LOST
by tmb1112
Summary: Luffy and his crew see a weird metal ship falling out of the air as they're heading towards an island. They find themselves stuck on a deserted island with a group of survivors who are desperately trying to find a way off and back home. Occurs right after Syrup Village arc at the start of Lost. Hope you enjoy, R/R!
1. Chapter 1

DAY 1:

The Straw Hat pirates were nearing an island in East Blue. They'd just picked up the newest member of their crew and a new ship to take them to the Grand Line.

"Straight ahead Merry!" Luffy yelled. The pirate in the straw hat pointed towards the island covered in greenery. He was sitting on the lamb figurehead's head, his self-designated seat.

Usopp ran up to the bow and stared off with an amazed look in his eyes. It was the first island he'd ever been to outside of his own and it looked amazing. "Wow! It's covered in jungle!"

Nami put the compass away since it looked like this was their new destination. Luffy started running around excitedly with Usopp in celebration of reaching a new island and the captain accidentally kicked a napping Zoro. She started cracking up as the swordsman stood up and chased the other two boys around. "What did I do?!" Usopp screamed as he was being chased too for some reason.

The orange haired navigator couldn't remember a time when she'd had more fun. _Probably before Arlong..._ Her smile and laughs disappeared and she clenched her left upper arm covered by her t-shirt sleeve. Underneath was the tattoo that reminded her of her mission. _I should just take the treasure and leave already._

Though she thought it every day, she couldn't bring herself to leave this crew just yet. They were so much fun to be around. "Alright boys! Pull in the ropes and head to starboard, we'll go to shore right... over... there." The woman pointing to shore slowly dropped her arm to her side and stared in horror ahead at the island.

All three of the men on the ship looked at her funny. Luffy and Usopp started waving their arms in front of her to see if she would react, but Zoro followed her gaze back to the sky above the island, and his jaw dropped as well. Sweat started dripping down the sides of his face and he muttered, "What the Hell is that thing?"

"Huh?" Usopp turned around first and his legs started shaking as he saw the enormous metal bird flying through the sky and making lots of noise. "Eeeaaahhh!" He shouted in fear as he stared at the beast.

"Whoa!" Luffy stared at it in amazement as he turned around too. "I've never seen one of those before! What is it Nami?" He asked.

"How the Hell should I know?!" She shouted back at him. All four of them were staring straight up, unable to look anywhere else but the loud metal bird.

The water around them suddenly started to ripple and the crew started looking around. The island itself was shaking like crazy as if an earthquake was hitting it. Usopp fell to the railing and used it to sturdy himself as he looked back up at the strange thing above the island flying closer to the side they were on. Luffy looked out at the island and felt a pit form in his stomach.

Usopp saw the thing shudder and shake in the air, "Hey guys," he started nervously while they watched in awe. A small trail of black smoke was now following the flying object. "Does it look like something's wrong with-" his voice was caught in his throat with a small yelp as all four of them dropped their jaws further.

All of a sudden the thing ripped in half. The tail went one way while the front section, which was much larger, dropped down near a ripped off wing and lots of other wreckage. "It, broke," Nami whispered and then she saw something coming out of the air from the small explosion.

The shaking of the island was starting to calm down, but a huge shard of metal flew past the side of the ship and made the whole thing rock to the left with the splash. "Ahh!" Usopp tumbled across the deck while Nami grabbed onto the wall tightly. She lost her grip and started to fall, but Zoro grabbed her and sturdied her with one hand while he grabbed the railing with the other.

"Th-Thanks," Nami mumbled as she held on for dear life. Another chunk of metal was falling towards them and slammed into the back left of the ship near where Usopp had rolled.

The long nosed pirate screamed in fear and scampered back towards the others as a chunk was ripped off of their ship a foot away from him. Luffy was holding on tight and staring straight at the huge front section of the flying thing he found so cool. He thought he heard something that didn't sound like part of an explosion, it sounded like a person's scream, but that couldn't be right.

Something blue was falling towards them fast and right before it hit the water, all four pirates got a good look at the person sitting on the soft chair. Their eyes bugged as they saw the bloodied figure strapped into the chair before it hit the water and ripped apart.

"Holy shit," Zoro shouted and they snapped their heads back to the falling piece of what had to be some sort of airship. The tail of it fell to the other side of the island, but the largest part was falling right towards the sandy shore they were heading for themselves.

It was halfway from where it ripped, to the ground, and falling fast. Nami didn't know what was happening, but she realized there were people inside that thing and they needed help. The woman started shouting out directions and the men started pulling the ropes while Usopp steered in the right direction.

No one argued about going to shore with the floating body on the side of their ship. Usopp was trembling as he pulled the rudder, but he still thought, _How many people are on that thing? I hope there are some survivors._

Luffy tied the rope down and stared out at the quickly approaching shore. "What is this place?" He asked and Nami was the only one who heard the odd question. "It feels, strange," he clenched his fists and looked up where the plane had almost hit the ground.

"It's going to hit before we get there," Zoro mentioned as he walked back to the other two. "What do you think it is? I've never heard of something like it."

"It's a ship," Usopp proclaimed as he ran out of the cabin and stared at it. "I once knew a master builder who could make a hundred of them in a day!" Luffy was amazed but both teenagers froze and stared in shock as the wreckage shifted.

"What?!" Nami exclaimed and stared at the rubble as it moved in midair. It had been falling in a way that it would have slammed down into the ground hard, but suddenly it tilted and when it hit the ground, the landing looked pretty soft.

 _What's going on here?_ Zoro watched the connected wing of it tilt up as the body skid across the sand. People were falling out of the air but they also seemed to hit the ground softly instead of as hard as they should have been falling. Their ship was almost at shore now, but when the main body of the plane hit the ground, it shot out some rubble in their direction. The swordsman frowned as he noticed something, _The shards are only flying this way. It's too much to be coincidence._

He pulled out his swords and ran to the front of the ship, jumping up and trying to cut one of the pieces of debris flying fast at their ship. Nami and Usopp couldn't see him move he was so fast as he leapt up and swung two of his swords at the metal shard. Zoro pushed against it hard, but the shard was moving too fast, and he couldn't cut steel. It broke one of his blades and he barely moved the other back in time to keep it from getting destroyed too.

"Tssk," he dropped the hilt of the broken blade and gazed at the second one that had a chip on it where the metal piece hit. Suddenly the boat shook as more shards hit it in the hull.

"Is everyone alright?!" Nami called out and looked around to see the boys all doing fine as the ship shuddered. "We're taking too much damage! Usopp, go check below deck!"

The liar with a slingshot shouted, "Yosh!" and ran inside the cabin. Meanwhile, the other three stared at shore and finally heard something that made their hearts lurch. Screaming.

The bloodcurdling screams were horrifying and they watched as people were picking themselves off the beach and running around hysterically. A small explosion blasted two people into the water where they bounced past the Going Merry and into deep water. A chunk of burning steel from that explosion also just _happened_ to fly their direction and hit the left side of the ship, slashing a huge gash from bow to stern.

Usopp was below deck trying to close up two holes, when the gash appeared and water started flooding in. The crew above him heard his screams and Zoro jumped into action, diving off the side of the ship and into the crack below, as it was faster than going through the cabin.

The green haired swordsman saw their friend getting slammed on the opposite wall by the mass of water that pulled him into the ship. "Zor- gurgle," Usopp swallowed a bucket of water as he tried to shout and the salt water choked him.

"Baka!" Zoro grabbed him with one arm and tried swimming back the other way. The water force flooding into the ship was too strong though with both arms occupied, so he turned and slashed at the wood of the far wall they were up against. The water rushed in fast and ripped the broken sword from Zoro's hand. He tried reaching for it but it was washed away in the chaos of the inside of the ship as the two men were lifted towards the ceiling.

"St-gurgle, breaki-gurgle, Kaya's sh-gurgle,' Usopp tried speaking though his lungs were filling with water. His friend gave them this ship, and they were already breaking it.

"Sorry Usopp," Zoro kicked the wall he slashed and broke a larger hole in the hull for them to swim out of. He dunked his head underwater and dragged Usopp out of there as water continued to flood in from multiple sides.

While Zoro was in the ship, Nami and Luffy continued to watch events on shore. Their ship had slowed down with the water filling it, but they were so close now. The ship was starting to tilt backwards as it moved and they noticed they were going down. A piece of debris flew and ripped the sail horizontally, halting their movement in the water. Still, both navigator and captain were staring at the shore in shock.

More and more people were pulling themselves and others from the body of the plane, but everything seemed so strange. All these people just fell out of the sky very far, yet so many of them didn't seem injured at all. Some people were running out of the trees or digging themselves out of the sand, which meant they fell out of the sky and were perfectly fine with walking.

Luffy thought they might have just all been really strong, but he watched as it took several men to move one small piece of wreckage to get another out from beneath.

A loud crack shook the two from their thoughts and they spun to see a fissure in the middle of the deck. There was a huge hole in the back, and they were tilting backwards, but this crack was by far the worst damage so far. The front of the ship actually stopped tilting back and started falling forward as the crack enlarged. "Merry!" Luffy shouted.

"Ahhhhh!" A high pitched girl's scream echoed across the beach and Luffy spun to see a tall blonde girl screaming at the top of her lungs with flaming wreckage all around her.

"WALT! Walt, where are you?!" A black man with curly hair cupped his mouth and was shouting for his son.

Zoro and Usopp popped out of the water and turned back to see the boat splitting in half. "No," Usopp whispered, letting out a gasp. Zoro had punched his nakama in the chest to get out the water, and now they stared as their ship started sinking.

"Luffy, we have to go!" Nami yelled back at the captain on the ship.

Luffy looked around as pieces of his ship were falling apart. He didn't want to leave this awesome ship, but it was clearly too late. He looked at the lamb figurehead sadly one last time and then nodded.

Before either of them could say another word, one of the two large round things that kept making loud noises exploded in a huge ball of fire. Flames shot out everywhere and a ball of fire slammed into the ship, sending Nami flying up in the air as Luffy spun out and crashed in the water.

 **A/N Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this crossover, as it was pretty fun to write, and so were the next few action-packed chapters! I made the rating M because of the amount of death and violence, and how far I'm going to go into it... Leave a review telling me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

The navigator screamed, but then she remembered how her captain couldn't swim. She crashed into the water and the burns she just got screamed in pain from the sudden rush of cold water on her skin. She tried to hold her breath and looked around to see Luffy slowly sinking a few feet from her. _I've got you,_ she swam down and grabbed him by the collar of his red shirt.

"Nami has Luffy," Usopp said as he stopped swimming and turned back to a floating Zoro. "Let's get to shore!" He had to scream to be heard over the voices of terrified people all over shore.

The green haired man nodded as he saw the woman come to the surface with their captain. He turned and swam the short distance to shore where Usopp was getting up and staring around in a daze.

The madness around them was insane. People were crying, screaming, dying; it was chaos. All of that combined with the loud noise of the other round thing with a spinning blade inside it made for a bad experience all around. Usopp just wanted to hold his ears shut and sit down, but there was work to be done.

As the long nose turned to help Nami drag Luffy out of the water, Zoro walked forward and looked around at all the steel near him. "This was flying?" He wondered as he stared at the huge body of the thing and the shaking wing lifted high in the air.

"Hey you! Help me with this!"

Zoro turned his head and saw a middle aged man in a suit pointing his way. He looked at what the man wanted help with, and there was a large chunk of debris lying on a screaming man's lower half.

Jack thought the green haired man looked odd. The man must've fell in the water because his green hair was soaked, but his hair wasn't the strangest thing, and neither was his haramaki. It was the three sheaths he had on his waist like he was carrying swords, which definitely wouldn't be allowed on a plane.

It didn't matter much to the doctor though, and he pointed at some other men to help him lift the rubble. They all ran over and he shouted, "On the count of three, lift it and I'll pull him out!"

All four of the men who were gathered with Zoro stared at the swordsman in shock. Zoro reached down and grabbed the chunk of metal, lifting it up and dropping it behind him where no one was sitting. Even the guy underneath with a crushed leg stopped screaming and just whimpered at the amazing feat of strength.

"Wh-Who are you?!" One of them shouted at him but Zoro didn't have time to reply. He saw some dazed person walking in front of the big spinning motor and the guy stumbled back when he felt the wind coming towards it. There were more people over there though and he saw how the first one exploded, he didn't want anyone over here when the second one did.

Usopp and Nami got Luffy out of the water and the sharpshooter started slapping him around. "Bleh!" Luffy spat up some water and sat up fast, "I almost drowned!"

Meanwhile, Nami ran over to the person she thought was the most important. A girl was screaming and Nami ran over to the pregnant woman and grabbed her hand. At the same time, a man in a suit ran over and started asking her all types of questions about her pregnancy.

The man mentioned the "plane," and Nami turned to the big metal wreck, now knowing the name for it. While they were talking, Nami looked over and saw a guy around her age trying to give CPR to an older black woman near them.

The doctor guy saw it too and told her, "Stay with her! If something's wrong! Call for me!" Nami nodded as the man ran over to the teen and pushed him away since he was doing the chest compressions wrong.

Luffy and Usopp were running up the shore when the sniper saw two people running around shouting in some different language he couldn't understand. He stopped and turned to see a woman covered in blood fall to her knees and he ran over to help her.

The captain in the straw hat ran past Usopp and towards where he saw Zoro. The swordsman was pointing up towards the tree line and telling people to move towards it. "Zoro!" Luffy yelled and the swordsman turned around.

Zoro looked back and his eyes widened. Luffy was running near the big engine thing, but some other old man was running much closer to it. He saw the bald guy and another who were with him before and they were dragging away the injured man who had been trapped under the wreckage. He couldn't let that thing explode, "Get away from there!" Zoro shouted.

The bald guy dragging the man with the injured leg turned and saw the man running past the engine too. John Locke shouted, "Move away!"

Luffy turned around last, right as the old man was running in front of it and the man turned to him. The noise coming from it was so loud the guy didn't know who shouted at him and he looked at the lanky teen in the red shirt. "What'd you say?!"

The rubber teen smiled at him and opened his mouth to speak, but the man he was about to talk to was lifted off the ground and pulled back into the giant spinning thing. Luffy watched in horror as the man was killed, and then the engine exploded in an enormous ball of fire.

Locke ducked his head and thought he and the other two men with him were dead. He waited for it, and waited a little more before the other man dragging the wounded with him gasped and he opened his eyes to see what had happened. The teenager who was closest to the engine was now standing directly in front of them, between where they were and where the engine exploded.

Luffy didn't want those guys to get hurt while they were helping the injured, so he jumped in front of the explosion. He felt a sting on multiple parts of his back and it wasn't just from a burn. The pirate reached behind him and grabbed something sticking out of his right side. "Rrrggghh," he ripped hard and yanked the metal shard out of him coated in blood.

"A-Are you alright?" The man with the broken leg asked their savior who looked down and chuckled at them. It felt so weird; the man wasn't even that close to them when the thing exploded, but when they opened their eyes he was right there.

 _He moved so fast,_ Locke thought and then watched as the boy ran from them towards an Arab man dragging someone away in the sand.

Luffy ran over to the dark skinned guy with curly black hair and said, "Let me help you with that," he grabbed the person Sayid was dragging and lifted him up with one hand. "Where should I put him?"

Sayid stared in shock for a second that the skinny teen could lift the heavy man he himself had to drag, but he didn't waste any time on it and pointed up near the tree line where a few others were gathering.

Usopp was helping a woman to her feet when he saw Zoro running back down towards him. "Nami's back there," Usopp pointed with his free arm. His other arm was under the woman's shoulder to keep her propped up while he tried moving her away.

"Got it," Zoro said and ran down the beach to where he saw some bright orange hair.

Nami was still dazed from that last big explosion. She had to dodge falling metal shards while trying to protect the pregnant girl at the same time whose name she learned was Claire. The blonde girl moaned loudly and Nami clenched her hand tighter, "It's gonna be okay," she promised.

As per the doctor's instructions, she and the fat guy named Hurley moved Claire away from where they were. Little did they realize they moved right under the wing that was hanging by a thread in the air.

Zoro ran over and saw the guy in the suit breathing into an unconscious black woman's lungs, trying to breath life back into her. He turned and was going to call out to Nami when he realized something and his eyes went wide. _That wing doesn't look like it's going to last much longer._

"Nami you have to move," he shouted at her over the screams as he ran over.

The man grabbed her by the arm but she pushed him off her and said, "Take Claire!" He frowned but then looked at the girl who was clearly pregnant and nodded.

Zoro grabbed her carefully bridal style like she weighed nothing and Hurley stared at the strange figure as he sprinted off like an Olympic Athlete who wasn't carrying over a hundred pounds. He turned back as he was running and shouted, "Get away from the wing!"

Jack was about to shout the same thing. He resuscitated the black woman, and then he turned to see Hurley and the girl with orange hair over under the wing. Claire was gone, but when he looked farther up shore he saw the green haired man resting her down in the sand before sprinting back down towards them.

"Go go go!" Jack yelled and Nami turned back to see him waving his arms at them to move. She couldn't hear Zoro over some girl's shrieks, but Jack she heard and saw where he was pointing for why they had to bail.

Nami's eyes went wide and she started running while shouting at the fat guy to move faster. Jack caught up to them and the three ran as fast as they could as the loud creaking of the wing got louder and it started to fall.

All of a sudden, Nami felt her leg get caught on something and she tripped. The girl yelped and fell to the sand. She looked down and saw her foot snagged under a piece of metal. She tried hard to lift it, but it was much too big.

"Jack wait!" Hurley shouted and turned around to see the girl had fallen behind them. She was tugging at her leg trying to get out, but the wing was falling too fast towards her.

"Move," the doctor shouted at the fat man. He didn't think he'd have time to save the girl, but at least he could save him. Jack tackled Hugo Reyes to the floor then looked over at where the wing was about to hit. Something flashed in front of his eyes and at that moment Jack believed he was dreaming as the green haired man appeared standing over the woman.

"Z-Zoro-" Nami began but the man didn't say a word, he didn't have time. He reached down and grabbed the metal chunk, lifting with all his strength and ripping the thing out of the sand. He didn't even have time to drop it before grabbing Nami with his other arm and throwing her roughly in the air up shore where she landed near Jack and bounced on the sand.

The Pirate Hunter knew the thing was above him and he dropped the metal chunk, running forward so he could at least get out from beneath it. "ZORO!" She screamed and then the plane hit the ground right behind where the swordsman was running. He made it out from under just in the nick of time.

Unfortunately for him, that's where all the fuel was stored. The explosion that followed was larger than the one when the plane separated, and from each of the turbines, put together. Nami watched in horror as the swordsman was completely engulfed in flames as an enormous explosion covered the plane.

 **A/N Thanks everyone who read this chapter and the last one. I hope you enjoyed it, and I would love a review with some feedback on the story so far!**


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3:

Usopp was finally at the tree line with the woman he helped and he turned around just in time for the wind for the explosion to knock him down with a huge stunned expression on his face. His eyes were popping out of their sockets and his tongue shot out in front of him as he screamed.

Luffy threw his arms out to either side of him and pushed the five people running near him to the ground. The heat wasn't too bad for him, but a shard of metal went flying by his face and a little piece shot through the top of his right shoulder, cutting him deeply and making him spin out. As he spun in midair, he saw the entire explosion and crossed his arms in front of his face to protect from it.

A normal human would've died at this point, but Luffy was no average human. Pieces of metal flew past and cut him, while flames burned at his skin, but it was the screams of people caught in the explosion that really hurt the pirate captain. That... and the pain. He quickly realized he was losing a lot of blood as his vision was getting blurry.

When the huge explosion subsided, the beach was much quieter than before. Dozens of people were killed in the explosion and everyone else was pretty much shocked silent by it.

Luffy hit the ground and rolled a few times before hitting a hot chunk of metal and stopping. He pushed his hand on the ground and slowly lifted up. He knew he had a bad feeling about this island the moment it started to shake before the airship fell. Their ship was gone, people were dead, and he was in a lot of pain right now.

He felt the urge to go look for his comrades and he stumbled along the edge of the beach near the tree line where everyone was gathering. People started to stare at the boy covered in large cuts as he staggered further towards the orange haired girl he saw on her knees a little farther down. "Ah, Usopp's there too," he muttered with a small smile as he saw the bandanna on his friend's head.

When he got closer he wasn't smiling as much as he saw the tears coming from their eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked as he walked towards them.

The two of them, the pregnant girl, the fat guy, and the guy in the suit all turned and gawked at the captain covered in blood. Luffy's hair was singed and he had minor burns on his skin, but there were a few large gashes that were gushing blood. "Sit down!" Jack exclaimed and tried pulling the teen down to operate on him with emergency treatment.

"Luffy," Nami whimpered and made eye contact with the captain. Luffy shrugged off the man who tried to grab him and didn't like the look Nami was giving him. "Zoro, he's, he's," the woman paused and looked back towards the area still covered in flames from what just happened.

"He moved so fast," Hurley whispered in shock, trying to come up with an explanation for what just happened. The fat guy stopped wondering a second later and sweat started pouring down his face.

"What do you mean Nami? What about Zoro?" Luffy's voice was getting louder and he didn't care about his blurry vision, he started searching the area for his friend.

Usopp was looking down in shame with a few tears in his eyes for the man who helped save his village and Kaya. Zoro even saved his own life back in Syrup Village. He looked up and his tears caught in his eyes and his muffled sobs in his throat.

Nami watched in disbelief as the shadow appeared in the flames. Their captain smiled and said softly, "See, he's fine..." Luffy trailed off and fell forward on his face in the sand.

Jack finally dropped to him and started ripping up pieces of his own suit to help him. He felt Hurley nudge his arm but pushed him away to keep working as fast as he could. "Jack, you have to look," the fat man sounded scared and Jack looked up fast before looking right back down.

The doctor tied a knot with the cloth, then his mind registered what he just saw. He slowly looked back up and at the black shadow inside the flames. It was walking forward and no one on the beach could speak as they stared over at it. The flames parted a little as the man reached the outside of the fire and kept walking.

Zoro's clothes were all but destroyed. His body was covered in bad burns from head to toe, and he could hear his heart beating loudly in his chest. Everything went silent around him and he just kept walking forward until he reached his captain who was being treated.

"Zoro, how are you still conscious?" Nami asked in disbelief. The man turned to her and all she saw was black where the light shadowed over his eyes. Usopp flinched, but Nami just grabbed his charred black hand and pulled him down, "It's okay, we're all safe."

For some reason, the woman knew exactly what the man was doing as he looked from her to Usopp to Luffy. He nodded once, before falling forward just as Luffy had done before. This time though, Nami was ready and caught him as he fell. "Please," she whispered and looked up at the doctor who was still staring at this man in absolute shock.

Everything Jack knew about medicine and life told him this man should be dead. Actually, both of them should, but they weren't. "Please help them," she begged.

Whatever Jack wanted to ask, it could wait. For now, he had to help these patients.

2 HOURS LATER

"Wait a second, you weren't on the plane?" The pregnant girl named Claire asked Nami as they sat near Jack. The doctor had spent the entire time helping everyone who walked over to him. Nami hadn't left his side once, but that was just because of the two unconscious men near Jack's makeshift medical station. "So you were already here?"

There weren't many wounded, which stunned the navigator and surprised most people on the island. They all survived a plane crash, so why were they all okay? "No," Nami said and shook her head. "We got to this island the same time you were," she hesitated as it still sounded ridiculous to her, "flying over it."

Jack was putting bandages on a man's side who had a piece of shrapnel stuck in it. He turned his head slightly to Nami while he was applying pressure and he asked, "So who are you then? You came on a boat?"

"On a pirate ship," she replied and the other two stared at her in surprise for a second before they started to laugh.

Claire smiled at her and thanked her for trying to boost their spirits. "No, I'm serious," she repeated and now the other two stared at her oddly. "He's a pirate captain," she pointed at the boy in the straw hat who was younger than everyone else there.

Jack stared at the swords on the other man's hip and he thought about taking them. Then he recalled the guy carrying people to safety and helping him when he had to lift the rubble. _Pirate or not, he's not a bad guy._

"So," Claire wondered out loud, humoring her new friend she'd been sitting with for a while since Jack wanted to check on her too. "Does that mean you're a pirate?" she continued, "Since you were on their ship."

"No." Nami stated coldly. "I hate all pirates," she looked back at the two men lying on tarps next to her and her expression softened a little.

"I don't believe that," Claire said with a sly smile and Nami turned to her surprised. "You definitely like these two, you've been staring at them with a worried look on your face for hours now. Haha, I'm starting to think that's your normal expression."

Jack grinned and even let out a small chuckle as Claire made Nami flustered and at a loss for words. She looked back down and wished there weren't pirates like these in the world, it would make everything so much easier. She wanted to hate _all_ pirates, she had her whole life, but now Luffy was changing that.

"Hey Nami," Usopp called over and the women looked back to see the long nosed man walking towards them. He'd been helping the guy Sayid move some burnt bodies into the fuselage of the plane. It was a grim job and they were pretty silent while they did it. Afterwards they set up some fires though and he heard a little about what these people were doing here.

Jack watched as the three started talking and he allowed himself to wince. He looked at his worst off patients and they all seemed stable for the moment which was miraculous considering their injuries. He grabbed a sewing ki the found in someone's bag right after the initial shock of the crash died down, and then he quickly slipped away to go seal up his own wound under his shirt.

All he could do earlier was put a bandage over it because he had patients with worse injuries to worry about, but he knew the cut was too big for the bandage to be enough.

While Jack left to go give himself stitches, Usopp spoke in a hushed tone to Nami. He asked Claire if they could talk in private and when she left he instantly started panicking. He told Nami the people here were on something called a plane going from Sydney to Los Angeles. It crashed and they were setting fires so that rescue boats and planes would see them.

"This is too weird," Nami whispered and grabbed her head to make the headache subside. "Just what island did we land on?"

"I don't know," Usopp replied and they both looked back at the huge jungle waiting behind them. It was so ominous, and they did not like it.

The two of them decided to go find out some more and try to stay quiet about who they were. Nami went to ask Claire not to mention the fact they weren't on the plane, and the girl who they saved was more than happy to oblige. Usopp went over to learn more about these people and where they came from.

He looked out over the water as waves crashed on shore and he sighed, _Sorry Kaya. You trusted us with that ship, and we let it sink._ Usopp shook his head to get his mind off of it and walked over to a muscular blonde man smoking a cigarette. "Hi there, I'm..." The guy took one look at him and then turned around, walking the other way.

The sharpshooter wanted to yell at him for being rude, but the guy looked way too scary for that. He decided to go for someone else and saw Sayid and some guy with shorter blonde hair setting up a fire to make it bigger. "Need some help?" He called over as he jogged towards them.

"Ah Usopp," Sayid greeted the teen from earlier. "Yes, could you go get us some more wood."

"Sure thing," he said and pointed at the guy next to his darker skinned friend. "You want to come with, umm..."

"Charlie," the man told Usopp and the pirate smirked at all the information he was getting, like Charlie's name!

He continued helping these people out and talking to them casually until nightfall. At one point he walked over to the little area where three unconscious men were lying injured, just to check on his nakama. When he saw they were fine though, he went back to doing his own thing.

Usopp was sitting around the fire with Sayid and Charlie when the Arab man stated, "You think they would have come by now."

Charlie was sitting on the man's left and he lowered the hood of the sweatshirt he found in someone's bag. "What, who?"

"Anyone," Sayid responded in exasperation.

"Maybe they don't know y-we're here," Usopp said, catching himself before he said "you're" which would have been suspicious.

"A plane goes down, I'm sure everyone in the world knows about it by now." Sayid replied like it was common sense and Usopp just nodded in agreement, though completely confused.

At a fire a little bit away, Nami was sitting next to Claire and the woman was letting her touch her belly. Claire really liked this teenage girl she had been with since pretty much the crash.

The piece of plane they were sitting on started to creak and bend down and the girls turned to figure out why. They smiled to see Hurley walk over and sit between them with a box in his hands. "You ladies hungry?" He asked in a friendly tone.

"Thanks," they replied at the same time and then looked at each other before laughing.

Hurley looked at Claire, "Have any more, um, baby stuff?" He sounded pretty concerned, and Nami couldn't help but stifle a giggle at the shy tone he was using.

"No, I think I'm good," Claire assured him.

"That's good," he gave them each their food and smiled. "Hang in there." He looked like he was ready to get up, but he hesitated and looked at Nami nervously. "H-How're your friends doing?"

"For some reason," Nami began, "I think they're going to be okay." She remembered how bad they looked after fighting Captain Kuro's crew, but they were both perfectly fine the next day. Sure, this was a lot worse than that was, but she seemed to think they could handle even worse.

 **A/N Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, and I really would like some feedback if you are enjoying it, or if you think I could make it better. So much stuff happens in Lost that it's going to be hard to even make it to the second episode, but I'll try to stick with it. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4:

"It must have been at at least 40,000 feet when it happened." Jack held up a leaf he cut to make look like a plane and the people around his fire stared at him. "We hit an air pocket. We dropped about two hundred feet, then, well I blacked out." He sighed and lowered the leaf.

Nami looked at him in surprise and then even more so at the girl named Kate who cut in, "I didn't. I saw the whole thing." She sounded close to crying, but she wasn't going to. "I knew that the tail was gone, but I couldn't bring myself to look back." She shook her head imagining the rough memory. "Then the front end of the plane broke off."

The orange haired girl remembered seeing the very tip of the plane falling into the forest, and looked closely at the girl with Jack. "Can I trust you?" Nami asked the girl out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Kate turned to the teenager and Jack looked at her, wondering if she was going to repeat what she said earlier at the med station. "Sure, you can trust me."

"Alright," Nami hoped the woman would stick by her word here. "I wasn't on the plane. I was on our ship that sank the same time your plane crashed."

Kate's eyes went wide and Jack was actually pretty surprised too as Nami kept talking. Now he was actually convinced they weren't on the plane. "When the plane hit shore, shrapnel ripped through our hull and we took on too much water. Before it hit though, I saw the tip of your plane rip off. Back then I wasn't paying much attention, but I did see it crash inland a few kilometers."

"Was it in that direction?" Kate pointed and Nami nodded. "I saw some smoke rising right through the valley." Jack looked deep in thought and the raven haired girl continued, "If you're going for the cockpit, I'm coming with you."

Jack chuckled with a shake of his head; he really didn't see a reason why she couldn't come. "How 'bout you?" He asked the orange haired girl who just shook her head.

"I'm going to stay here and watch over Luffy and Zoro..."

"I'll go," an excited voice said from behind them and they all spun with wide eyes as the boy in the straw hat was standing there. "Shishishi, sounds like an adventure!"

"Baka!" Nami jumped up and punched him so hard on the top of the head that he slammed into the floor. "Go rest for longer, you have way too many injuries!"

"I'm fine," Luffy groaned as he lifted back up and did little arm circles.

Kate whispered into Jack's ear as they argued, "Didn't you say he was going to be out for at least two days?"

"He should be," Jack muttered in response, wondering what was different about this teen and his friend.

Luffy turned from Nami who was still yelling at him and spoke to Jack directly. "I'll go with you to..." he stopped speaking mid-sentence and spun around. Everyone stared at him for a second wondering why he did that, and then they heard the noise.

It sounded like a huge crash mixed with a scream followed by an explosion. Luffy got that same bad feeling in his gut as he stared at the forest now as he did earlier.

Usopp shrieked at the horrific sound coming from the forest. "Monster!" He shouted in a panic as he looked that way and stood up with Sayid and Charlie.

"There's no such thing as-" Charlie stopped talking as they walked forward since one of the trees in the dark jungle shook.

Everyone on the beach started to stir as the noises got louder. Trees were shaking and it sounded like something was smashing into them. Usopp walked up the beach with Charlie and Sayid who were staring at the trees. The long nosed pirate was feeling very nervous, never having been off his island before.

Luffy, Nami, Kate, and Jack all walked up between the other people who stood up. Not everyone got up to move closer to the trees and check out the shaking, but quite a few did. The two Koreans, the bald guy, the black man and his son, the blonde smoking man, the tall blonde girl and her brother, the fat guy and pregnant girl, all gathered close to the tree line. Usopp ran ahead of Charlie and Sayid and up to Luffy. Both the sharpshooter and the navigator were hiding behind their captain a little as the boy in the straw hat stared out into the jungle in awe. They poked their heads out on either side and stared out with fear stricken faces, wondering what kind of monster could be making such a crazy noise.

 **CHCHCHCH EEEE CLACKACKACKEEEE BOOF!** A tree toppled in the distance and whatever it was, it was big. They could follow the direction it was moving by the movement in the trees.

Jack stared in disbelief. He had no idea of what could possibly be doing this. "Terrific," Charlie commented sarcastically as the sounds started to die down.

A cracking sound was heard much closer to the group than the thing barreling through the trees. Usopp and Nami stayed where they were, but their captain started walking towards the trees. He had his right fist clenched and he pushed his left palm into it to crack his fingers.

"L-L-L-Luffy, what are you..." Usopp started but his captain's scream startled him enough to stumble back and lose track of what he was going to say.

Charlie's eyes turned huge as did every person around them as Luffy rose both hands high in the air. "Whatever it is, I'm gonna go catch it! I'M COMING MONSTER! RAAAAAAAA!" He charged off from the front of the group of survivors and into the trees where he disappeared into the brush.

Nami and Usopp both reached their arms out in front of them, but it was no use; he was already gone.

"What the Hell is that guy doing?" The blonde man with the stubble beard scoffed. He was trying to conceal how freaked out he was by the whole thing, but everyone was at least a little unnerved by now.

Jack looked to his right where Nami and Usopp were whispering to each other. "Should we go after him?" Usopp whispered, casting a glance at the people behind them. "I don't really trust all these people."

Nami looked at the doctor and Kate, then back at Hurley and Claire. "I think we should stay here for now." She might have thought these people were weird, but they weren't bad guys. "Besides, if they are bad, we can't just leave Zoro here alone with them."

The woman looked back towards the little makeshift medical center. _He threw me out of the way of that explosion,_ her guilt was gnawing at her and she felt the need to go over and sit with him again.

"Want to explain what that kid thinks he's doing?" The two pirates turned and saw most of the group of people staring straight at them. The man who asked the question was the black guy with curly hair.

Nami sighed and turned away from them, "You heard him as well as I did. He's going to try and catch that thing, whatever was making that noise." She walked away and towards her unconscious friend. Usopp looked around at the people once more but couldn't handle the looks they were giving him and he ran off too.

Claire looked at Hurley. The two of them were there when the crazy green haired guy saved them from the plane's explosion. He did some crazy stuff, and apparently he was a pirate. "Who are these people?" Hurley whispered out loud and the pregnant girl stared over at them speechlessly.

* * *

Luffy scratched his head in the middle of the woods. He looked every direction around him, but he didn't see any trails that looked like monster footprints.

"That's strange, I thought it was this way for sure." Luffy stretched an arm up in the tree and pulled himself up to one of the higher branches. He looked around and didn't see any hints, but he did see something weird.

Back the way he came from, he could see bright lights and puffs of smoke up in the air. However, when he looked the opposite direction, he could swear he saw another puff of smoke and a small light just on the other side of a cliff on maybe the other side of the island. "Is someone else making a fire?" He scratched his chin, "I'll check it out tomorrow after I take a nap."

The pirate dropped from the tree and started walking back the way he came. He got a few feet before hearing something and stopping in his tracks.

The sounds started off as just wind through the leaves, but they quickly became more than that. Luffy could hear... whispering. _"Haassppaasshh aassshh pssesssaah,"_ the noises were coming from all around him and the teen was losing his composure a little bit.

"Hey! Who's there? Show yourself!" The whispering continued and he could start hearing words in the mix.

 _"SssaaAcceee, SsLufffyyhassa,"_ the teen in the straw hat heard his brother's name and now he was really freaking out. How did these people whispering around him know who he was? The noises sounded like they were coming from right above him, and on all sides. It started to speak rapidly and in a hushed voice, _"The three of us have to set out to sea someday."_

Suddenly Luffy remembered where he'd heard this before and his breath caught in his throat. "S-Sabo?" Luffy looked around but all he saw were the rustling of branches of trees around him.

The whispering continued a little louder, _"We'll get out of this country and be free. And be free, be free, **be free** ,"_ it kept repeating itself as it circled around Luffy. The pirate closed his ears with his hands and didn't want to hear anymore.

 _Sabo never did get out. He never was free!_ Tears were streaking down his face and he didn't even notice the whispering stopped and the wind stopped blowing. Luffy looked up in the sky and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SABO!"

 **A/N Hey everyone! So the passengers still don't know about the pirates, though Luffy's acting much stranger than most of them can even believe. He heads pretty far into the forest and hears the whispers. Just like Sawyer hears something a man he killed once said, Luffy heard from his dead older brother. It was pretty sad writing Luffy cry, but I hope you liked the scene. Leave a review telling me what you think below. 'Till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5:

"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed as she saw the captain walking out of the trees. It was just past daybreak and she didn't get much sleep sitting at Zoro's side all night.

The girl got up and jogged over to where her comrade was walking out of the tree line. She was about to ask him where he was all night, when she saw the dirt covering his clothes. She looked at his face and tried to hold in her gasp. It was obvious he'd been crying, and she couldn't come up with a single situation where that would have happened. "A-Are you alright?"

"Of course!" Luffy answered almost too fast. He smiled wide and tilted his head a bit at her, "How's Zoro doing?"

She turned her head down to the burnt up man next to her, "Oh. He's, fine I think. Jack came by earlier to check on him, but he was confused by how Zoro is alive at all and kept checking his heartbeat to make sure he wasn't actually dead."

Luffy laughed genuinely at that and he looked around the beach where a lot of people were gathered and talking to each other. "They've been talking about the noises all night."

"They heard it too?!" He asked and then remembered the noises they were probably speaking of and not the whispers. "Oh yeah, haha, right," he sheepishly scratched the back of his head remembering the monster he originally chased. Nami stared after her captain and he was acting really weird.

He walked over towards the groups and heard them talking about what it could be. Some guy in a hoodie walked over to him and dropped the hood over his head. "Hi. Charlie," the guy introduced himself and held out a hand.

Luffy looked at the guy funny for a second and then shook his hand with a bright smile. "I'm Luffy!"

"Luffy huh?" _Weird name,_ Charlie thought but smiled back at the kid. "So did you see anything out there?"

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked, his smile fading a little.

Charlie pointed towards the woods, "You know, you said you were going to catch, 'the monster.' So did you see it?"

"Nope," the boy in the straw hat replied. His red shirt was pretty muddy and a few people noticed he hadn't been back all night, but he didn't seem to have a problem sleeping in the woods.

"Why didn't you come back then?" Charlie asked, wondering why he didn't go back to the beach.

"Couldn't find it," Luffy replied with a finger in his nose, shamelessly picking a booger and flicking it to the side. He kept looking over the trees to see the fires, but whenever he went back down and started moving, he always seemed to get turned around.

Charlie stared at the teen in surprise for a few seconds and then started laughing. He turned his head and looked back at the group he was sitting with before. Jack was walking towards them and Charlie motioned for Luffy to come with him.

They walked over as Jack got there and started listening. "I'm gonna go out and look for the cockpit. See if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal, help the rescue team." He turned to Boone who mentioned many times that he was a certified lifeguard. "You're going to have to keep an eye on the wounded. If the guy in the suit wakes up, try to keep him calm, but don't let him remove that piece of shrapnel."

The younger man looked like he understood and nodded. "Yeah, I got it. What about the burned guy?"

Jack paused and didn't really know what to say about him. What he knew about the human body told him the guy should've died with all those burns on him. He saw the green haired man engulfed in flames, so he didn't really know what to say. "He shouldn't wake up for a while..."

"Zoro will be fine," Luffy assured and Jack turned around to see that the pirate kid had returned. "Also I'm going to come on the hike."

"Sure," Jack said uncertainly and stood back up. The boy already told him he would be going yesterday, so he expected it.

"Here, I'll go with too," Charlie offered as Jack started walking.

"We really don't need anymore help," Jack told him.

"No really, I don't feel like sitting around here waiting for something to happen." Charlie smiled and started walking without waiting for a response. Jack sighed and nodded. "Excellent," Charlie smirked and Luffy laughed as he walked along too.

Kate joined the three of them as they walked off. She started talking to Charlie as Jack led, while Luffy turned back and saw Usopp talking to some guy with short hair. "Hey Usopp, we're going to find the front of the plane, wanna come?"

"No thanks!" The man with the long nose exclaimed and crossed his arms. "There are monsters in there," he wanted nothing to do with the scary forest.

"Suit yourself," Luffy said and smiled as he caught back up and joined in with Charlie and Kate's conversation.

"And who was that?" The guy talking to Usopp asked.

"That's Luffy," Usopp replied as he and the man continued collecting firewood. The guy lifted a large piece and handed it to Usopp, "I like this stick," Usopp exclaimed as he felt its weight in his hand and saw it was as tall as his shoulders. "This will be my new walking stick! Thanks, Ethan."

"No problem Usopp," the Canadian man said with a small chuckle. _Usopp, Kate, Charlie, Scott, Luffy._

* * *

"Haha!" Luffy looked up and opened his mouth. The sky was full of huge dark black clouds and rain was pouring out in buckets.

"Hey guys," Charlie started as he lifted up his hood and moved a little faster. He had to speak up to be heard over the rain, "Is this normal? Kind of day turning into night. You know, end of the world type weather? Guys?"

Luffy started laughing at Charlie's description and told him, "Back in the forest I grew up in, sometimes it rained like this too."

Charlie blinked a few times and then turned to the teenager walking with him. "You grew up in a forest?" The rockstar didn't really know what to think of that, "So are you from the Down Under? I know Australia has all those dangerous forests with animals that try to kill you."

"That sounds like my home, but I don't know what this Australia is," Luffy replied and the two walking in the front of the group looked at each other nervously.

The guy with blonde hair cocked his head to the side and it was his turn to start laughing, "You've never heard of Australia? We just came from Sydney!"

"What does Sydney have to do with it?" Luffy was confused at why the man was talking about two different places like they were the same.

Kate and Jack knew the boy wasn't on their plane, but the fact that he had no clue what Australia was was unnerving. "Look," Kate said and stopped the retort that was about to come out of Charlie's mouth. In front of the group of four and through a clearing of trees sat the front of Oceanic Flight 815. The cockpit looked mainly intact, but it was tilted up with the very tip leaning against some trees.

"Well, let's do this," Jack told the group. He walked towards the plane and Kate and Charlie followed behind him.

Luffy stopped moving though as he felt a strange feeling in woods nearby. He looked around at the forest and Charlie looked back as Kate and Jack entered the cockpit. "Hey, you coming?" he called over at the teen in the straw hat.

"Yeah," Luffy turned back and smiled at the rockstar, running forwards to him and entering the plane together. "Whoa," the pirate muttered as he took one step inside and passed a dead body. Every step he took he had to grab onto the seats next to him to keep him steady, but almost all the seats had dead bodies strapped into them. The corpses were starting to smell too, and flies were drawn to them making everything worse.

Luffy still felt strange in his gut and he knew something was coming. He got distracted again though as he heard tumbling behind him. The pirate turned and saw Charlie sliding down the hallway and trying to grab onto something. Jack and Kate were already inside the cockpit, but Luffy was right at the top of the last set of seats and saw his new friend falling.

"Got you!" Luffy called out and threw his arm down, stretching it all the way to Charlie's right arm as the blonde man tried grabbing at something to hold onto.

"Thanks," Charlie said and lifted his head up. His eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight of the stretched arm and the man lost all ability to talk as Luffy retracted his arm and pulled the guitar player up to the door of the cockpit. "Wh-What the Hell are you?" Charlie was shaking where he stood and backed up against the bathroom door.

"Oh," Luffy grabbed the sides of his lips, "I'm a rubber man," he stretched out his lips for the other man to see.

 _I must be hallucinating,_ Charlie smiled at the strange teenager in front of him and then turned around. He opened the bathroom door and said, "Excuse me." The man only went on this trip for one reason. Charlie grabbed his drugs that he had stashed here as the plane was going down. The man stared at them for a few seconds in pure bliss and then remembered the hallucination, _It's been too long since my last fix._

Luffy scratched his head at why the man was going to the bathroom now, but he shrugged and went into the cockpit following the other two who were already in there looking for a transceiver. "Any luck finding the tansdiver?" The boy asked as he entered the cockpit, getting the name for it wrong again.

Kate turned to him and shook her head, "Wait, where's Charlie?" she asked.

"He's in the bathroom," Luffy replied with a point of his finger outside.

"Ugghhh," the man sitting in the pilot's seat snapped his head up and gasped loudly, surprising the other three in the cockpit.

Jack ran to the man whose face was all bloody and until a second ago he thought was dead. The doctor lifted a bottle of water and poured some into the man's mouth. The pilot drank and then moved his head away, "How, how many survived?"

"At least fifty-three," Jack replied, not counting the four strange pirates he met. "Are you alright?" the pilot was swaying back and forth in his seat.

"Yeah, my head's just a little dizzy is all," he let Jack look in his eyes and the doctor said it was probably a concussion. The man looked around and he realized he was sitting in a jungle from the view outside the cracked plane's windshield. "How long has it been?"

"Sixteen hours," Jack told him.

"Sixteen?!" the man repeated, hoping he'd heard wrong, but the doctor just nodded along with the woman behind him. "Has anybody come?" Jack told him not yet, but the pilot didn't look hopeful, he looked in denial and shook his head. He looked back at the girl and the strangely dressed teenager behind him. "Six hours in, our radio went out. No one could see us. We turned back, to land in Fiji. By the time we, we hit turbulence," he shook his head and leaned back, "we were a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us, in the wrong place."

Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds as the information processed. Luffy stuck his finger in his nose, not really caring about whatever these people were talking about which all sounded like nonsense to him. "We have a transceiver," the pilot suddenly said as if he only remembered it now.

"Good, good, that's what we were hoping for," the man tried to move and Jack pushed him back to keep him seated, but the pilot said he was alright. The man pointed to the device and Kate ran over to grab it.

While the pilot was messing with the radio, the bathroom door opened up and Charlie started walking towards the cockpit with a large smile on his face. Kate looked back at him with a confused glance, but her suspicions were put on hold as they all heard something, _**EEEAOOOO.**_ "What the hell was that?" the pilot asked.

"It's here," Luffy said and punched his left fist into his open right palm. "This time I won't let it..." _**CHACKCHACHACKCLICKEEE**_ _ **TSSss Tsss,**_ it faded off and then a low growling sound was heard right above them. _**RRRGGG.**_

Charlie was on the floor with his back up against the wall and Kate was leaning back into Jack. "It's right outside," she whispered and the pilot had no idea what they were talking about.

The teenager charged out of the cockpit and down the hallway of the plane. "Luffy!" Jack shouted at the teen who was seemingly running to his death.

"Get out of here!" he called back to the people on board. "I'll take care of," Luffy got to the bottom of the tilted section of plane and looked up. The teenager didn't know what he was expecting, but this was not it.

He stared straight up at the dark black cloud above the plane's cockpit. It was emanating evil and Luffy took a step back as lightning bolts crackled from it. "What the..." the others inside were making their way out of the cockpit and down towards him, but they stopped once they saw the nervous look on the fearless kid's face.

Luffy was about to shout something at it, to see if it was alive, when the cloud seemed to snap in his direction. It had quieted down and it was obvious to the pirate who spent his childhood living in a forest that it was hunting, keeping silent to confuse its prey. The mass of it was larger than the plane and it ripped a tree out of the ground from its roots, throwing it a hundred feet up in the air and dislodging the plane from where it was tilting. The plane slammed down and the people inside tumbled to the ground.

Charlie was knocked between two rows of seats and landed on a corpse that made him freak out. Kate and the pilot were send tumbling back towards the cockpit where they slammed into the wall and moaned in pain. Only Jack grabbed onto a seat cushion soon enough and didn't fall when the plane jolted to a stop on the jungle floor.

Jack was unsteady, but he looked out of the hole where the plane was ripped in during the crash and his eyes widened in shock. The teenager he just met was standing in the rain with a snarl on his face and he jumped up in the air. At the same time, what looked like a black cloud of smoke flew down and wrapped around his arms and upper body.

The cloud pulled Luffy up in the air and the pirate tried punching it from the inside. Lightning bolts were shooting around him and a few hit him, but nothing worked at hurting him. The cloud lifted Luffy and spun him around, throwing the pirate into a tree.

Jack took a step forward, hearing loud crashed outside the plane, when he saw Luffy fall out of the air and slam into the ground. He didn't know how high the boy fell from, but after that he was definitely... not dead? The pirate with blood trickling from the corners of his lips lifted up to his feet and clenched his fists, yelling up in the air and charging out of Jack's sight.

Luffy threw an arm up in the air and grabbed onto a tree branch above the cloud of smoke. He yelled out, "Gum Gum Rocket!" and flew up in the air above the monster. The beast that was fighting him suddenly stopped lifting up to the branch and the front of it spun around to where four people were running out of the back of the plane. "Go I've got this!" Luffy called down. The monster was already zipping away though.

The pilot spun and looked up, but all he saw was the teenager with skinny arms jump off a tree branch that was a hundred feet up in the air. Luffy was chasing the monster as it tried escaping before the people down below looked up at it. "So you don't want to be seen huh?!" Luffy swung from another branch and dropped down to the cloud that was heading for the ground.

The cloud of smoke ripped another tree out of the floor and the trunk flew up, slamming into the pirate and knocking him above the tree line and up into the pouring rain, so he was unable to see the monster sneak down into the hole it made by ripping out the tree. Thunder crashed and another bolt of lightning flew out of the sky, hitting the highest object up there which happened to be the rubber teenager, however the lightning did nothing to him.

Luffy fell, screaming as he did. The rain was pouring down hard and he could barely see where he was falling, but he knew the monster wasn't below him anymore.

"Do you guys hear it?" Charlie shouted and spun around where the four of them were grouped together. They heard the sounds of thunder and the loud torrential downpour, but the monster's weird screeches and crashes were no longer. All of a sudden the ground shook and they heard a loud smash.

The four of them turned around and saw a huge tree. It was lying on the ground right behind them, the trunk over three feet in diameter, yet it was ripped by the roots and they didn't see where on the ground it came from which meant it was thrown pretty far. Then, another, smaller crash was heard and they all saw the spot on the ground between them and the tree where the object hit.

"What was that?" Kate asked and moved closer to Jack as the dust around them cleared. There was a hole in the ground and Jack started taking steps towards it, despite Kate trying to pull him back. The doctor moved closer and then looked down, where the teen who called himself a pirate was moaning quietly with his eyes closed. Falling through the tree canopy, Luffy received lots of large cuts from protruding branches, and then upon hitting the ground he hurt himself even more. His head had a trickle of blood coming down from his hairline down to his chin right over his left eye. His clothes were ripped even worse than after he received his first injuries during the plane crash.

Luffy's shirt was so badly destroyed that the shred of red fabric still on him couldn't hold on anymore and the rain washed it off his body. Because of all the rain washing the blood off his wounds, his large gashes and cuts were completely visible to the doctor who knew he had to work fast.

Charlie, Kate, and the pilot all walked forward as Jack reached down and grabbed the surprisingly light teen. He gently put the boy over his right shoulder and then looked back at the others, "Let's get him back to camp. He's still alive."

"H-How is that possible?" Kate asked, her voice shaky.

"Did anyone see that thing?" Charlie asked and the rockstar saw Jack's head snap to him. "You did, didn't you?"

"I don't know what I saw," Jack replied and then started walking off. The rain stopped as he was moving and he looked up at the sky, wondering how it went from a severe downpour to suddenly sunny like that. The clouds moved faster than they should have, even in a rainforest. This whole place was a mystery for him, and all he knew was he had to get out of that forest now.

 **A/N Hey everyone. Thanks for reading the latest chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. The pilot survived this time as Luffy was there to surprise the monster who didn't expect anyone to come charging out at it. Usopp made a very dangerous friend as Ethan makes his list, planning to betray them. When will the Others arrive? What about the tail section? Now that the pilot is here, what will Jack be doing? And what's the pilot's backstory? I mean, everyone else has one, so I guess he will to right? Leave me a review telling me what you thought below! Till next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Everything was fuzzy as Luffy opened his eyes. The ground beneath him felt soft, softer than the normal hammock he slept on. He blinked a few times, looking straight up at a blue ceiling above him that waved and rippled in the wind. "Where am I?" he wondered out loud.

The pirate lifted up his head and looked to his right. Zoro was lying down on a bed made of seat cushions next to him. He looked down and realized that's exactly what he was lying on too. Luffy looked a little farther and the man on Zoro's other side was moaning loudly and his breathing was staggered. There was a large piece of metal sticking out of the guy's side and it didn't look good.

He heard a lighter breathing between him and Zoro and looked down between their two elevated mattresses. "Nami?" he asked as he saw the girl with orange hair lying between them.

She stirred and lifted her head, first looking at Zoro's bed and grimacing at the sight of the man still unconscious. Nami turned the other way and her eyes opened wide, "Luffy!" she jumped up fast, surprising the other teenager who stayed lying in his bed.

"What's up Nami?" Luffy sat up and then screamed, "OOOWWWW!"

"Baka!" Nami lightly hit him on top of his head. She didn't hit him as hard as usual, even though he was rubber, because of the white bandage wrapped around his skull. "How did you get so hurt?" She'd been wondering about it since they got back, but it bothered her to no end.

"The monster!" Luffy exclaimed and sat up again, forgetting about his injuries that made him scream once more.

"You saw it out there?" Nami asked him. The others returned with the pilot, the transceiver, but no news about seeing a monster in the forest.

"I tried fighting it, but, I couldn't punch it," Luffy's eyes were heavy and before he could go into more detail, Jack walked in with Hurley right behind him, there to examine the worst off of the patients.

The doctor was surprised Luffy was already awake, but at this point it barely showed on his face. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked the skinny teenager who lay back down with blurry vision again.

"Considering he keeps screaming in pain, I'd say it's a good sign," Nami responded for him since Luffy started mumbling and his eyes closed again. "Luffy? Luffy?!"

"It's okay, he probably just needs some rest," Jack shook his head and smiled a little. He had seen this kid survive a lot, there was no way he was giving up here. "However," Jack turned to the man with shrapnel sticking out of his side and it was clear something needed to be done, and fast.

* * *

Usopp watched the group start walking into the forest and he stopped his shaking legs. "I can do this," he stated to himself and started running forward. "I'm a brave man of the seas! Hey wait up!" he called after the group and chased them into the start of the forest.

Kate turned around and saw the teenager with the long nose running towards them. _One of those pirates,_ her eyes opened a little wider as she saw who else was slowly jogging towards them. They continued to walk through the woods and Kate grinned at the man with long blonde hair as he walked past her, "Looks like you decided to join us."

"I'm a complex guy Sweetheart," he responded. The redneck scared Usopp enough to make him stay back near Charlie and Sayid who he trusted enough. After watching the fight between the redneck and his dark-skinned friend, he believed Sayid could protect him if danger arose in the forest and that was one of the main reasons he chose to come.

The trek into the woods was long, since they had to climb uphill almost the entire time. The whole point of the journey was to get to higher ground so that they could send a message on the transceiver. It would have been a pretty quiet journey, if it weren't for the teenager telling far-fetched stories that made little to no sense about his home village and defending from pirates.

"If I have to hear one more God damn," Sawyer began as he grabbed a long vine hanging off the cliff and pulled himself up to the next ledge. He reached back and helped Kate up while Usopp mentioned how he once landed on an island that was actually a piece of giant goldfish poop. This time he actually grinned and chuckled at how stupid the story was, but caught himself when Kate smiled at his reaction. He grunted and turned back around, mumbling, "Stupid kid."

The other part of the trip that was noisy was Shannon and Boone arguing with each other the whole time. The brother and sister duo were getting on people's nerves even more than the scrawny teenager.

Charlie was moving pretty slowly, purposely staying behind Shannon so he could stare at the beautiful blonde's ass during the hike. Usopp was falling behind and he really wished he had more upper-body strength at the moment. Up ahead of him, Boone was trying to help his sister to the next overhang, but she was struggling against him and didn't want his help. He watched as the vine she was holding onto wiggled and strained, and then he heard a loud ripping sound.

"Shannon!" Boone reached for his sister but she had been pulling away from him and was now falling down the steep slope. She bounced once and it knocked her far enough away from the ledge that if she fell again, she would definitely die from the fall.

"AHHHH!" she screamed and then felt a jolt on her arm as she was grabbed.

"Hold, on!" Usopp yelled as he held onto the vine with one arm and leaned off the wall to grab her with his other. She kept screaming as the vine swung back and slammed into the wall with the skinny man still holding her by the wrist.

Charlie looked back and his eyes opened wide when the girl fell past him, but he was in no position to save her. He was too doped up from his heroin stash to think clearly, and it almost cost Shannon her life as she fell past him. All these thoughts flew through his mind as Usopp helped the girl back to a steady position.

"Are you alright?" he asked her as he stared a spot on her left thigh where she bumped into the wall and cut herself.

"Y-You saved me," she whispered and then she realized Boone was one hundred percent right, she didn't belong here. She knew she couldn't let him win though and she had to toughen up. "Thanks," she muttered and then pulled herself up past him.

"I did?" Usopp asked himself and then looked up to see the others smiling in relief and Kate even called out that he did a good job. His instincts to start bragging about it kicked in, but everyone already saw. _I can't wait to tell Luffy and the others when I get back. Hopefully they're both awake when I get back down there._

The group finally made it to another plateau of flat land. They weren't at the highest point yet, but they were pretty high up. Sawyer was in the back of the group and everyone was getting pretty exhausted after all this hiking. "Check the transceiver."

"We won't get any reception here," Sayid replied in annoyance.

"Just try it," the redneck said again.

"I don't want to waste the battery," the Arab man replied, getting even more infuriated by the second. Usopp and everyone else there were getting tired of the two going back and forth, but none of them were stepping in the middle of it.

The two started screaming at each other and then everyone stopped and became absolutely silent as a loud growl was heard in the bushes near them. They were in some pretty tall grass and were still surrounded by trees on all side, even if the trees were thinned out at this higher altitude.

Charlie heard rustling in the trees and the sound of cracking branches and his eyes opened wide. He and Kate had the same fear rush through them as they imagined whatever beat up Luffy so bad and ripped trees out of their sockets was coming. Sweat started pouring down Charlie's face and he took a step back.

" _GRR, GRRRR!_ " The noises got louder and the rustling as well.

"What was that?" Boone asked nervously.

"Something's coming," Kate stated, also with sweat pouring down her face from the hike and from the fear.

The growling sounds were getting louder and they could see the grass moving in the near distance. "IT'S THE MONSTER!" Usopp screamed and turned around, sprinting away.

"Come on let's move," Kate told the others and started running, Sayid and Charlie following right behind her.

"I shouldn't have come!" Shannon yelled but Boone grabbed her and started pulling her along as he sprinted away too.

The whole group was running in a line and Kate was amazed at how fast Usopp was sprinting away from the thing chasing them. She looked back and saw the blonde haired man standing still and staring off in the direction of whatever was coming. "Sawyer!" she yelled and took a step back, but Sayid grabbed her and told her to leave him.

Shannon screamed and they all rushed away, until one loud gunshot made them all snap their heads back and stop running. **BANG, BANG BANG BANG.** Gunshots kept ringing out and everyone stopped and stared back at Sawyer who was calmly pointing a gun backwards and firing it over and over again.

The roaring beast got closer and closer and then lunged out of the grass with its paws stretched out towards the man who took one more shot and then leaned back away from the falling beast. The creature fell to the ground and skid to a stop a foot in front of the redneck. It started moaning and breathing deeply while the rest of the group walked back over to it. They were all staring at it in awe and Shannon said, "That's, that's a big bear."

"Think that's what's you heard at the cockpit?" Boone asked.

"No," Charlie responded, scared of the bear but nowhere near as much as he was of the monster. "That's a teeny tiny version of what attacked Luffy."

"Guys this isn't just a bear, it's a polar bear." Kate stared at the white bear in shock.

"That can't be a polar bear," Boone said but everyone else just repeated in a daze that it was definitely a polar bear.

While they were talking about it, Usopp was staring at the gun still in Sawyer's hand and Kate was the first one to ask where it came from. "I don't know, bear village?"

"Not the bear, the gun?" Kate repeated and now everyone turned to them.

"I got it off one of the bodies," he explained where he found it off a dead marshal and while he was explaining, Kate was moving ever closer to him. "...thought it might come in handy, and guess what? I just shot a bear!"

While Sawyer and Sayid started arguing about the gun, Kate snuck up behind him and Usopp went wide-eyed as the girl pushed Sawyer and nabbed the gun from him, pointing it at Sawyer and asking, "Does anyone know how to use a gun?" Sayid explained to her how to take it apart and she removed all the pieces.

Usopp watched her carefully and he noticed something. He was a liar by trade, and she definitely knew how to use that gun. She was lying, and he got a bad feeling as she walked away and leaned up against a tree. _Kate, who are you?_

* * *

"We've got a bar!" Sayid shouted as he checked the transceiver at a higher point on the mountain. "Mayday mayday!" There was squeaky noise coming from the machine and Sayid told them it was feedback.

"What would do that?" Kate asked.

"I know what would do that. This guy not fixing the radio, the thing doesn't even work." Sawyer accused.

Usopp believed in his new friend though and listened closely like the rest as Sayid explained. "Something else is already transmitting. Somewhere close."

"Somewhere close, like on the island? That's great!" Charlie exclaimed, thinking maybe it wasn't deserted after all.

The group kept arguing about what it could be, though Usopp had no idea what all these technical terms they kept talking about were and just kept his mouth shut for once. Sayid found the right frequency, but the voice coming from the other side was speaking a language none of them understood.

"That's French! The French are coming! I never thought I'd be so happy to hear the French!" Charlie was shouting with joy and then a weird voice stated a bunch of numbers in a low tone. The French started again and they all tried to figure out what it was saying, but Shannon was the only one who understood the language according to Boone.

She argued with her brother, saying that she didn't know it she just spent a year hanging out with boyfriends there. The batteries were dying and they needed her to translate fast. "You can do this," Usopp encouraged her while everyone else was yelling. She looked at him and her nervous look calmed down a little as she turned her attention to the radio.

The girl started in a shaky voice, "It's repeating."

"She's right," Sayid noticed it too after the third time of the voice starting. Every time it spoke, a mechanical low man's voice would come over the French woman's and say 'Iteration' followed by a bunch of numbers. "It's a loop."

Sayid guessed what the next number would be and Sawyer was yelling about how no one else understood what he was talking about. Usopp was staring at the remote with a growing sense of dread as he added those numbers up in his head along with how much time each message was taking. "It's saying the number of times the message has repeated!" Sayid exclaimed. "It's roughly thirty seconds long, so," he started mumbling numbers.

"Sixteen years," Usopp whispered quietly.

Boone was staring at his sister expectantly and the blonde haired girl began, "She's saying. Please, please help me. Please come get me." Everyone started shouting at each other as Sawyer yelled his doubts about her French translating abilities. Charlie reminded them the battery was dying and they all let Shannon listen. She continued, "I'm alone now. On the island alone. Um," she put it up to her ear as the low battery was making it hard to hear. "Please someone come. The others, they're, they're dead. It killed them. It killed them all."

"Sixteen years," Sayid said. He heard Usopp say it before, but now he'd double checked with his own math. "Sixteen years and five months is the count. The iterations, it's a distress call. A plea for help, a mayday. If the count is right, it's been playing over and over, for sixteen years."

"Someone else was stranded here?" Boone asked as Charlie looked around the island with fear in his eyes.

"Maybe someone came for them," Kate offered.

"If someone came," Sawyer responded. "Then why is it still playing?"

Everyone became silent and Charlie stared off into the jungle, "Guys, where are we?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

"Don't trust her," the man whose stomach was bleeding badly muttered. Luffy was squatting next to Jack and the two of them had been having a conversation when the guy who Jack had to remove the shrapnel from started moaning again. "You have to find her. Have to bring her back."

"Yeah, you keep saying that," Jack said and Luffy chuckled. "But every time I ask you who you need to take back, you pass out on me again. You're fever's running pretty high, I'm betting you don't even know who you're talking about."

"My cuffs," the man muttered in a raspy voice. "Where are my cuffs?"

"Are those the metal things Mike found on the beach?" Luffy asked Jack.

"Get the pilot," Jack told Luffy and the skinny teen jumped up to his feet. He was in pain, but the only way to make that better in his opinion was to walk it off.

"Hey Seth!" Luffy started running around the beach to find the heavyset pilot. Seth Norris was still in his bloody pilot uniform so that everyone knew he was in charge and he was having people sort the luggage. The pilot turned to the teenager who he had no clue how the kid was alive, and Luffy called him over towards the medical station.

"My jacket pocket," the injured man stated clearly for the first time since the crash. "Dangerous," he whispered as Seth and Luffy made it to the medical center and looked under the tarp at where the man was pointing. Jack, Luffy, and Seth all looked down at the sheet of paper where a girl was standing in a mugshot.

"Hey look it's Kate," Luffy pointed with a smile and the man lying there went wide-eyed at the sound of her name.

He was on the verge of passing out again, but knowing that they had seen her made him wide awake. "You can't trust her. No matter what she says, or how she makes you feel," he looked to Jack this time as the doctor seemed unsure of what to feel right now. "She's dangerous," he repeated and then his eyes closed again and he fell back asleep.

"What do we do?" Jack would have liked to keep it a secret, but the pilot was in charge here.

Seth looked down at the sheet of paper and grabbed it from Jack's hand. "It says here," he looked at the sheet again and he folded it up, "we have to detain her."

"No," Luffy stated and both of the older men turned to the teenager with skinny arms and legs. "I trust her, she's not a bad person."

"You don't know..." Seth began.

"It doesn't matter," Luffy said again, ending the conversation there and walking out.

Seth didn't seem like he was going to listen, but Jack grabbed the pilot by the arm and the two made eye contact. "That number I told you, fifty-three people." Jack started and the other man nodded, "We'd have a lot less if it weren't for that kid being here." Jack turned to the green haired man who had been out for almost two days now. "A lot of people have come to me saying that these two saved them."

"What does that have to do with Kate?" Seth asked.

"Just," Jack started and then released the pilot's arm. "Just do it as a favor to him." He didn't want to see Kate detained while they were trapped here. She didn't seem like a bad person to him either.

* * *

In the morning following the picking up of the distress signal, the hiking group had almost made it back to camp. Usopp was feeling pretty nervous as Kate was the one holding the gun again and he knew she was lying about not knowing how to use it. The night before there had been an argument over who was the best fit to hold the gun, and though he mentioned he was a good shot, the gun wound up going to Kate.

When they finally reached the beach, Sayid told everyone that they received no signal when they hit the top of the mountain. He asked for electronic devices as well as told people to ration the water and food. When he was done talking, he walked over and started talking to Seth alone, feeling he had to pass on what he learned from the radio to their pilot.

Meanwhile, Kate walked over to tell Jack the same thing. Usopp went over to the medical station though where he found Luffy and Nami standing next to Zoro's bed. The man with green hair had just sat up and was looking around, "Zoro!" Usopp exclaimed, which was the same reaction the other two had a minute earlier when the man awoke from his multiple day nap.

The green haired swordsman looked over to the tarp entrance where Usopp ran in and over to him. "Ugh," he sat up and ignored the pain as he ripped his bandages off. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days," Nami responded and the swordsman's eyes went wide.

He realized he's been missing out on his training and he grabbed the three sheaths lying next to his bed. He realized they felt a little light and then remembered one breaking and the other getting lost in the water. They weren't special swords to him, but he'd rather have three than one. Now he was down to only his Wado Ichimonji.

"I'm going to train," he mentioned as he ripped off more of his bandages. He looked up at his captain who was smiling seeing that his friend was okay. "What are you wearing?" the teenage pirate captain had his Straw Hat tied around his neck by a string, but he was wearing a black tank top with some a funky drawing and the letters 'DS' written diagonally across it in a spiky font.

"My shirt got ripped up," Luffy responded. "There's a cool monster on the island."

"Monster huh?" Zoro looked at some scratches on his captain's face and arms and he smirked. "Sounds like a challenge," he walked towards the entrance and then glance back, "What's up with the dead man?"

"He's not dead," Nami responded.

"Not yet," Zoro replied, taking his sword out of his sheath a little. "I should put him out of his misery now."

"No!" Usopp yelled and bonked the swordsman on the head. "There's a doctor here, he can help."

"If you think so," Zoro had never seen someone in this bad a condition survive, but he slid his weapon away and walked out of the tent.

"Hey Zoro, are you going out to train?" Luffy ran out of the tent after the swordsman. Zoro nodded at him and the captain smiled, "Alright, I'm coming too."

"Was the monster really that strong?" Zoro asked as they walked away. Nami and Usopp walked out and stared after them as Luffy used his arms to exemplify how strong the monster was and how big it was too.

"Those idiots," Nami mumbled. "They're going to hurt themselves again."

"Oi Nami," Usopp whispered and the woman turned to the man with a long nose who was staring off at the forest. "I've learned a lot about these people, and they all seem to think that others are looking for them. But," he took a deep breath and turned to her, "there's a message that someone else who got stuck here left. She said she was all alone on the island and that _something_ had killed everyone else." Nami shivered and that was Usopp's same reaction the first time he heard it. "The message," he continued, "it's been playing for sixteen years. Whoever these guys think is coming to save them, they aren't coming."

"So what should we do?" Nami asked, looking around at the mystery forest that her friends were walking into to train and gulping.

"We should build a boat," Usopp replied and the girl stared at him dumbfounded. He was completely serious though and said it again, "We _need_ to get off this island as soon as possible."

"None of us know how to make a boat though," Nami reminded him.

"I can build pretty well, and we can ask around to see if anyone else has any experience," Usopp suggested and Nami agreed that it sounded like a good idea.

 _If there is no one else on the island, then we really do have to come up with a plan to get out of here as soon as possible. I just wish I still had all that treasure to take back to Arlong with me. Well, as long as I stay with Luffy for a while longer, I'm sure we'll get some more treasure._ The idea of having to stay with Luffy and the others for a longer amount of time made her smile and she nodded her head as Usopp said they should split up and look for someone who could help.

* * *

Zoro and Luffy were out in the woods training until it got dark. They stayed there longer, but finally both men were pretty exhausted and looked around wondering which way was back home. "That way," both pointed in different directions and Luffy decided to go with Zoro's hunch because the swordsman sounded very sure of himself.

Zoro had his white hilt on his waist along with two long pieces of bamboo that he'd been training with. After an hour of walking up and down hills, Zoro pointed another direction and Luffy told him to wait a second. The pirate in the straw hat threw both arms up in the tree and rocketed himself up in the air high above the jungle. "Whoa," he exclaimed as he looked around and saw a lot having flown almost above the top of the mountain.

When he landed, Zoro ran over to the area he crashed down in and asked what he saw. "The beach is back that way," Luffy pointed the direction they just came from and a sweatdrop formed on the side of Zoro's head. "But there are a bunch of lights coming from the other side of the mountain. And over there," he pointed the opposite way as their beach, "is another fire like the ones the people on our beach are making."

"You want to go check it out don't you?" Zoro asked, already knowing the answer. Luffy nodded his head like a little kid and the two of them started walking through the woods again. Luffy learned from the first night that he couldn't trust which way he thought the beach was, and every couple dozen steps he'd throw himself above the trees and do cool flips and spins while he kept himself on track towards the other fire.

The two of them trekked over hills and through the forest pretty quickly. "We're almost there," Luffy exclaimed as the sun was coming up. Both of them were exhausted from the whole day of training the day before, made much worse with all their injuries. Now after staying up the entire night to walk through the woods, they were getting really tired.

"The fire is still going," Luffy told his nakama as he landed back through the trees. They were both covered in mud and Luffy had a few new scratches from flying through tree branches all night. "I can see the smoke even better than at night."

"That's good," Zoro responded, trying to keep his sentences short as to not waste any energy. The swordsman heard wind rustling through the leaves around him and then both he and Luffy snapped their heads up at the same time and looked around. "It sounds like," the green haired man started, "whispering?"

"It's the whispers," Luffy said in a nervous voice and Zoro turned, even mroe surprised by the look on Luffy's face than by the scared voice he used. "They're here, don't listen to them," he warned and the other man didn't know why Luffy was freaking out so much.

"There's something else," Zoro said and he flicked his thumb, making his sword leave his sheath a little. "Someone is in the forest."

"You're right," Luffy stated, his nervousness of the whispers going away as he heard rustling in the bushes. "There are people around us." He rose his voice with a smug smile, "They're trying to hide! But we hear them!" The rustling stopped and even the smallest crack of a broken twig drew their attention.

Zoro continued to slide his weapon from his sheath as the younger teen lifted up his straw hat and planted it firmly on top of his head. "If you're going to attack," the captain started and flexed his right arm, grabbing it with his left hand, "then you better be prepared for the consequences."

The people hiding in the bushes seemed to have a change in heart and tried stealthily moving away, though the two they were watching definitely seemed to notice they were leaving. "Weird," Luffy muttered as he lowered his fist.

"Let's keep going," Zoro stated and then turned and walked back the direction they just came from.

"Hold up." Luffy flung himself up through the trees again and started laughing as he saw Zoro really was going back the way they came. "Shishishi," he laughed as he dropped down and pointed the right direction.

 **A/N Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while but I had college and other projects I was working on. Totally forgot I still had over half of this story to post, well of what I've written so far, so expect another few chapters soon! So the Others were definitely hiding in the woods right there, but who is it these two are heading towards right now? What's the source of the lights? Will they escape this island?! Stay tuned to find out! XD 'Till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

"Ana Lucia!" Bernard ran out of the trees, stumbling and looking back over his shoulder in a panic. Everyone gathered on the beach: helping with the fire, tending to the wounded, or just sitting waiting for rescue, they all turned and panic rushed to their faces.

A few of the men grabbed sticks that they had with them and Ana Lucia ran forward to meet Bernard halfway. "Th-There are two men in the jungle. I think they saw me. They were heading this way."

"What did they look like?" Nathan asked, jogging over from the fire he was helping build. The white guy was average height and had short messy black hair after being stranded on the beach for a few days.

The large black man whose name no one else knew was standing with a large thick stick in his hand and he stepped in front of everyone else. They all heard loud noises coming from the trees and a few people took steps back nervously.

Goodwin, a blonde man with a handsome face walked forward and he looked confused more than anything else. _Who would be coming here? Are we taking all of them? Why would Ben send only two then?_

"No it's that way!" they heard a voice shout and finally saw someone walking out of the trees. A few of them lowered their weapons while others stayed on guard despite the appearance of the boy who walked through the trees. The teenager was skinny and wearing a black tank top with the band Driveshaft's logo on it, as well as a straw hat and a pair of blue shorts. The person behind him that walked through the trees made those who lowered their weapons raise them back up.

The green haired man had much larger muscles and huge scars all over his body. He also looked like he'd recently been badly burned. His skin was reddish brown around most of his torso and arms, though his face managed to stay pretty clear of injury. "Look," Zoro pointed through the trees and Luffy followed where he was pointing.

"Hey people!" Luffy started running towards them and everyone there kept their weapons raised.

"Who are you?!" a man shouted out at them.

"Don't come any closer!" a woman shouted and pulled the two children next to her closer.

"Why not?" Luffy asked and slowed down but kept walking towards them.

Zoro stopped and looked at a few of their expressions. "They look nervous. I'm guessing they've encountered some of those people we passed in the forest."

"A-Are you not one of them?" Bernard called out since he heard what the strange man without a shirt on said.

"Don't be tricked," Ana Lucia warned the others. "How do we know you're not, one of them?"

"Umm," Luffy scratched his head trying to come up with an answer and then he smacked his fist into his open palm with an idea. This childish action alone was enough to make the other people think he couldn't be one of those people who came to kidnap three of them on the first night. "Were you guys on the plane?"

"Yes," a woman with blonde hair responded. She took a step forward and looked at the two men closer. "We were in the tail section."

"Hmm," Zoro nodded at them and then pointed over his shoulder back into the forest. "A bunch of other people from the plane are on the other side of the island." He looked around and there were several wounded people lying on the floor, a few of them unable to move. "The middle of the plane crashed on shore there."

"What?! Are you serious?" A woman exclaimed and tears of joy were falling from her eyes. She thought her husband and father had died on the plane, but now there was a chance.

"Yeah, the pilot was alive too!" Luffy said to these people who seemed to be loving the good news.

"That can't be," the Hispanic woman who used to be a cop whispered. "The plane ripped in half in midair, there's no way anyone else could have..." Ana Lucia was cut off by the green haired man who just approached them.

"That's exactly what they think about you," Zoro told her and the woman shut up.

"Excuse me," the elderly man who originally ran from them and led them to this beach started. "On, on the other side of the island," he paused and took another step forward. "Is there an African American woman, around my age?"

Luffy had no idea what that meant so he just shrugged and Zoro had been unconscious almost the whole time so he didn't know either. "Her name is Rose? Please, she's my wife," he was desperately looking for an answer.

"Sorry," Luffy said, "you can come back with us if you want and look for her."

"Wait a second," Ana Lucia shouted and the black man next to her still had his weapon raised and took a step forward with her. "How do we know you're not just lying to us? Everything you've said could have been a lie. You want us to wander into that jungle, just so your people can pick us off one by one."

"That's not true," Luffy pouted and the woman was doubting herself because of this boy's immaturity, though she wouldn't let that convince her.

"You don't know that we're not lying," Zoro stated coolly. "But there's a doctor on the other beach and those people don't look like they're going to make it very long." He tilted his head at the folks lying down on the sand who had yet to stand up and the rest of the group looked at them too.

The flight attendant with the two children spoke up, "If we try to move them across the island, they won't make it."

Luffy turned to Zoro and the two men nodded at each other. "I'll stay here," Zoro told his captain and Luffy nodded, thinking it was probably better than having Zoro run off on his own considering he seemed to get lost pretty easily.

"Okay," the pirate in the straw hat stated and clapped his hands together. "I'll run back and get Jack, and I'll get him back here as soon as I can."

"Did you say, Jack?" The leader of the group asked and Luffy nodded. Ana Lucia remembered the man she had a drink with at the airport right before the plane lifted off and she nodded her head, finally believing that these two were part of the other plane section group.

"See ya later!" Luffy turned and sprinted back into the jungle at a much faster pace than the group thought was possible.

Zoro walked forward a few steps and then his exhaustion caught up to him and he fell to a knee. "Are you alright?" the blonde woman named Libby walked forward and put a hand on his back to steady him. Her hand felt wet when she put it on his back and she looked at it. Besides being covered in sweat, those burn wounds really were fresh and there weren't any bandages covering them. "Where did you get these?"

"The other half, exploded," he muttered as he pushed her hand away, "it's nothing." He was trying to stand back up, but he really did strain himself too much over the last twenty four hours. The man fell to his other knee and then fell forward onto his face.

"Wow," Zach said and took a few steps away from Cindy and towards the man. "He's really cool."

The black man finally lowered his weapon, though his eyes lingered on the two pieces of bamboo and the sword on the man's waist. _He's dangerous._ The guy dressed like a priest sat down next to Zoro, wanting to be next to him when the man awoke.

sc

Luffy made it back across the island in record time. He somewhat remembered the route he took to get there, though a lot of the trees looked similar. It got harder to follow the same path once the pouring rain began, but after a few hours of swinging through the trees he made it back to their camp.

By this point he had been awake more than a full day and his exhaustion was reaching its peak. He was tired, wet, and as he walked out of the tree line he just wanted to fall asleep. "No," he slapped himself across the face and kept walking.

Nami was helping collect water with the others when she saw her captain walk out of the trees. He'd been gone for over a day and he didn't have Zoro with her, which instantly made her alert and, was that worry she felt? The girl shook her head, reminding herself that they were pirates and then sprinted up to Luffy, "Where have you been? Where's Zoro?"

"He's with the people from the tail section," Luffy stated in a tired voice. The captain had bags under his eyes and Nami could tell how tired he was by the way he was slouching and walking slowly forward. _It's his injuries, he didn't let them heal and he's been running around._

"Damn it Luffy, you need to lie down," she tried to pull him towards a makeshift tent that her and Usopp set up the day before with pieces of wreckage and a tarp.

"Not yet," he replied and pulled away from her weakly. "There are injured people on the other beach. Need Jack," he started walking towards the medical station and saw Jack and Kate walk out into the pouring rain.

"Will he suffer?!" Kate shouted over the rain and everyone turned to her, including the two who just got there.

"What?" Jack asked her angrily.

"Will he suffer?!" She repeated. Both Nami and Luffy figured they must be talking about the guy inside the medical tarp and the captain figured he'd take a look inside. Luffy poked his head inside and stared at the man lying there. He was too far gone at this point, and it was obvious. "Will it be quick?" Kate's voice echoed from outside over the sound of the rain.

Jack looked over at the pirates who walked over to the two of them but were standing off a little and looking in on their argument. He turned back to Kate and responded, "No. It won't be quick. Two, three, maybe four days." As he spoke, Luffy took a step into the medical tent and Nami put her hand over her mouth as she watched him walk inside.

"Luffy," she whispered.

The pirate walked in and the man stared up at him. "Y-You," he stated in a weak voice. His body was deathly pale, rigid, with blood splashed all around him. Edward Mars stared at the teenager and looked into the kid's eyes. "Rrgh," he groaned through the pain, "just do it already."

"And he'll feel it?" Kate shouted over the rain as Jack tried to walk away from her. They kept hearing the groans and screams continue from the tent behind them.

"Yeah, he'll feel it," the doctor responded.

"Can't you put him out of his misery?" Kate asked and Jack spun, furious at what he was hearing. He wanted to believe the mugshot was a fake, that he was wrong about her, but...

 _ **Crack,**_ a loud sound of bone cracking interrupted Jack as he opened his mouth. The doctor looked over at Nami and realized that the teenager who walked over with her originally wasn't here anymore. His gaze slowly moved towards the tarp entrance where a teenage boy wearing a soaked straw hat that covered his eyes stepped out of the medical room.

"What did you do?!" Jack started storming up towards the tarp and Luffy snapped his head up, glaring straight into Jack's eyes and making the doctor freeze in his tracks. Both Kate and Nami felt shivers run down their spine and it wasn't from the cold rain drenching them.

Luffy opened his mouth and said in a calm tone, "I did what you couldn't; what needed to be done." The man inside the tarp had dried blood on his neck from the head wound he received during the crash, and the others saw the red on Luffy's hands as it dripped off and onto the sand. "You can't be wasting your time here, with a man who was already dead."

"You murdered him," Jack shouted but Luffy shouted right back.

"He died the second that shrapnel stuck itself in his stomach!" Nami had never seen her captain so serious except for maybe during his fight with Kuro in Usopp's village. "There are other survivors from your plane!" Kate and Jack opened their eyes wide and stared at the boy who pointed into the forest. "The people from the back half, they're alive on the other side of the island, but a few of them are dying from wounds, wounds that you might be able to help with."

"Are you serious?" Kate asked and the pirate looked at her with a look that showed he definitely wasn't joking.

"I'll lead you back to them," Luffy started but Nami grabbed him by the shoulder.

"You need to rest!" she yelled at the captain. "Look at yourself, you're a mess! If you keep going like this, you really will die!" She rose her voice continuously while she shouted. She didn't realize how much she really cared until this moment. "Don't die Luffy. You can't leave us here alone."

Luffy looked at her and could see how scared she was. "You're not alone Nami," the woman looked up a little and gasped as Luffy plopped his hat on top of her head. She remembered back in the town Buggy attacked when he screamed about no one being allowed to touch his hat. "You're my nakama. So are Usopp and Zoro. I promise, I won't die!" he turned to Jack who was watching with a stunned look, "Now, follow me."

Jack stared at the teenager who always acted like such an immature kid, who seemed more like a nine year old than a seventeen year old. Except in this moment, he was more mature than the rest of them and Jack knew what he had to do. _I couldn't do it, so he had to. I put that burden on a kid,_ he nodded his head, knowing that if there were wounded on the other side of the island, it was his job to help them.

"Tell Seth," Jack told Kate. He wasn't finished talking to her yet, and he had to bring up what he knew about her, but that could wait until later. "Let him know there are more survivors."

"Let's go," Luffy was getting impatient and he was already exhausted. Going through another trek across the island felt like more than he could handle, but he told those people he was getting a doctor. _Why am I going so far for them?_ He jogged away from the medical station and looked over at all the people on the beach trying to get out of the rain, and the other people who were collecting water.

He looked at Charlie who was helping the brother and sister move some of the luggage under a tent. His gaze shifted to Hurley who was helping the pregnant girl Claire get under his tarp. Sayid was getting the water with his team and everyone was working together for the same purpose. They all just wanted to survive, and get off the island. He was a part of their group now, at least until they could escape, so that meant he wanted to help them as much as he could.

"Are you ready?" Luffy asked Jack as they ran into the woods. Jack was confused at what he meant, but then his world was shattered as Luffy's arm stretched out and wrapped around his torso. The pirate threw his other arm up into the tree branches and swung them up and over the tree canopy. Jack thought he was imagining things back at the cockpit when he first saw the pirate's arm stretch, but now he knew for sure.

The two of them flew over the trees and Luffy caught onto the next branch, swinging them up over the treetops again. The rain suddenly stopped and the doctor looked around in awe. The clouds moved fast and in the short time they were soaring through the sky, the sun shone through. After the initial shock wore off, Jack turned his head to the pirate who knew this route pretty well now and was moving as fast as he could. The doctor shouted, "How are you doing this?!"

"I ate the Gum Gum Fruit and became a Rubber Man!" Luffy yelled back over the wind rushing past their faces. The wind was keeping him awake and after about thirty minutes of swinging he saw the tip of the smoke coming from the fire on the other side of the mountain when he hit the top of his arc. When the rain stopped it was still pretty dark, but now the sun was coming up and the island looked beautiful from above.

"Over there!" Jack pointed with his free arm, finally getting used to the flying thing. His mind raced with all the possibilities: that he was hallucinating, that the kid wasn't actually real, but he wound up just going with it because none of his explanations helped him deal with it.

The pirate kept moving as fast as he could and he felt his blood pumping through his veins. He was moving much faster than he did through the rain before as the fires had gone out on their beach and he had a hard time finding his way back through the rain. Jack suddenly noticed something as they were flying and he looked at the color of the man carrying him's skin. Luffy was pale, much paler than usual. He had open wounds on his arms and his hands were all bloody from swinging on the tree branches.

 _How is he still moving? I know he's special, just the fact that we're up in the air right now proves that, but he should still be out from his injuries._ "Luffy," Jack shouted at the boy who looked pretty empty without his straw hat that he gave to the orange haired girl. "Luffy!" he yelled again because the teen didn't turn his way.

Luffy's black hair was messy and his eyes were partly closed. He could hear his heartbeat in his head but he saw the end of the forest in sight. He dropped down before the edge because he didn't want to swing too far and land in the water, but as he dropped, he missed the branch he tried to grab onto. In that moment he became more alert than he had been for hours since having to snap the marshall's neck. If he fell from that height, Jack wouldn't survive, he knew that much. "Gum Gum Balloon!" he sucked in as much air as he could, which wasn't a lot at his current strength, but it fattened him up a little so that when they hit the ground, Jack landed on a soft cushion that instantly deflated upon him landing on it.

"Luffy!" Jack looked down but the boy's eyes were closing. He slapped the kid across the face, "Stay with me God damn it!" Luffy's eyes opened wider and he pushed himself up to his feet.

"They're right through, there," he started stumbling forward and Jack had no idea how the kid was this motivated.

"I've got it," he said and grabbed Luffy's right arm, putting it behind his neck and holding it on his other shoulder. _He's so light,_ Jack thought as he pretty much started carrying the kid. The trees were thinning and the sky was shining bright through them. He staggered out of the tree line and stared out over the ocean.

"Hey!"

Jack turned his head to the left and turned. He saw a group of twenty or so people looking over at him and a few walking his direction. The one in front stunned him as he actually recognized who it was. "Ana Lucia," he muttered as he looked at her.

"He really brought you back," the girl said in amazement. She stared at the kid who groggily opened his eyes and looked over at the small group gathered on the beach. Luffy's tired expression changed for a second as his eyes closed and his smile stretched from ear to ear. Then he passed out and Jack stumbled as he felt a lot more weight put on his shoulder as the kid wasn't holding himself up anymore. "Hey, hey!" Ana Lucia ran forwards as Jack lay the teenager down and tried shaking him awake.

"This is bad," Jack stated and looked up at the Hispanic girl. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah but-"

"Get it now," Jack told her and she got up and ran back to the rest of her group. Everyone was happy and they were smiling at the doctor and at the two people who promised they'd bring one.

Zach and his sister Emma started laughing and chasing each other around. They ran over to Donald whose leg was injured and they told him how the doctor was going to make him all better.

"That's great," the wounded man said and looked over at the green haired man who was laid down next to him. Libby was sitting with the man and the large black guy stood up and walked towards the doctor. Donald smiled at the blonde woman and she smiled back at him.

For the first time in days, the tailies felt something new. They felt hope.

* * *

Usopp walked the crowded beach after he woke up in the early morning. He strolled across the sand and smiled as he saw the people collecting wood and making fires. Ethan was talking to Scott and Steve and telling them how to lash sticks together to make a better shelter. Usopp laughed as Frogurt tripped on his shoelaces and started cursing before Rose helped him up to his feet.

The sharpshooter kept walking and saw Hurley listening to music on some strange electronic device the fat man had showed him. It was weird; without the loud grunting of the dying and now dead marshall, everyone was a lot happier. The mood had lifted and things weren't so grim anymore.

The Korean man who Usopp had tried to avoid so often because of the man's angry expression all the time, actually looked happy this morning. He watched from a distance as the guy walked over to his wife and rested his hand on her head, brushing a strand of hair out of her face and smiling down at her affectionately.

He kept walking down the beach covered in plane rubble and was amazed at how much everyone's mood had changed seemingly overnight. The man witnessed Boone giving his sister a pair of sunglasses that made her smile and the brother grinned as he walked right past. He watched as Sayid tossed Sawyer an apple and the two seemed to make some sort of peace right then and there despite their fight earlier.

There didn't seem to be anyway for it to get better, and then he saw the black man named Michael walking down the other end of the beach towards him with a dog on a leash in tow. He stopped walking and looked to his right where Walt, the black man's son, was frowning and looking depressed, maybe the only one on the beach. Then, the dog barked and the kid looked up, the biggest smile emerging on his face as he danced and skipped his way over to his dad and the dog he thought he'd lost.

Everyone else saw the boy run up to the golden lab and start petting it and the smiles on their faces grew wider. Usopp was about to go help out with making fires when he saw Nami sitting all alone under a metal piece of wreckage. "Are you alright?" he asked as he popped a squat right next to her.

The woman was looking out over the ocean all by herself and she rubbed her eyes with her right arm. "Yeah," she said with a sniffle, smiling as she looked out over the ocean. She turned to the man who sat next to her and realized Luffy was right, Usopp and Zoro were her nakama too. "I always hated pirates," she told the man who didn't really know anything about her.

Usopp turned to her in surprise, never hearing her speak about it before. But if she felt comfortable talking to him, he was going to listen and he leaned back against the same piece of metal she was sitting under. "They came to my village when I was really young, and they killed my mom." The girl paused as she remembered her mom, but she remembered her fondly and kept the smile on her face as she thought of her mom's loving smile. "I've only known, the bad kind of pirate. I didn't know, that people like Luffy, or Zoro," she stopped again and then looked at the man who was quietly listening to her, "or you, existed."

Nami looked back over the ocean. "Now that I know you do exist, I don't, I don't want to leave you guys."

"You don't have to," Usopp told her. She shook her head, knowing that he didn't understand why she would have to leave them eventually. Usopp grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face him. "You don't have to," he repeated and her eyes opened wider as her lower lip opened up a little. "Whatever it is, we'll help you. You know that right? We're your nakama."

The orange haired girl sniffled and rested her hand on the hand that Usopp put on her shoulder. "Thank you," she said and really meant it. Just the kind thought mattered to her a lot and she reached forward and gave him a hug.

 **A/N Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed! I would love some reviews telling me what you think of the chapter, any questions or comments you have, or suggestions for what pairings there should be! Right now none of the pairing decided by LOST are set in stone, so you can decide who winds up with who, but Nami is going with one of her crewmates so remember that too. Anyway, 'till next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

 _ **Grrr**_

Usopp sat up fast in his tent and shook Nami awake quickly who was lying a few feet away from him. The woman woke up and was going to yell at him for waking her so late, when she heard the growl louder than the last time.

The two of them ran outside and out towards the growing group of people outside the fuselage. The middle section of the plane was full of bodies and people tried to avoid it most of the time, but right now there were loud noises coming from inside. "There's someone in there," Kate stated as she looked inside from where the group was gathered.

Sawyer stepped up in front of her and lifted up a high-powered flashlight in his hand. He turned it on and took a few more steps, Kate, Sayid, and Charlie following behind him. Jack was still out with Luffy, so he wasn't there which made a few people worried who had been looking to him for guidance since the first day.

Usopp turned around and saw the pilot, Seth, standing pretty far behind the group with a nervous look in his eye. The man turned around and walked away, surprising Usopp who thought he'd be taking charge and going in first.

"Go on," Nami gave her friend a light shove. He looked at her skeptically but she growled at him and he held up his hands in defeat and followed the others towards the plane.

The sharpshooter gulped as he looked inside. Charlie was right next to him and the rockstar gave him a nod of encouragement, at least that's how he interpreted it. Usopp gazed around the inside and as a sniper, his vision was sharper than the rest of them. The flashlight wasn't pointed at the source of the noise yet, but he saw a flicker of movement in the almost pitch-blackness.

"There," he pointed and Sawyer spun the flashlight towards the being in the dark. Whatever it was, it didn't like being shined on and it turned with glowing yellow eyes towards them.

"Run!" Kate shouted and turned, sprinting out of the fuselage. The large group of survivors outside heard the loud growling and then saw the bravest of them running out of there. They all turned and booked it away from whatever could cause Sayid and Sawyer to run away like that.

Usopp sprinted out of there with everyone else and saw the huge crowd of people trampling each other to get away. He saw someone bump into Charlie and knock his friend to the ground, and he knew something needed to be done. "Guess it's time to introduce my new invention!" he yelled and spun back around with shaky legs. He reached behind him into the waistband of the pants he grabbed from someone's suitcase since he only had one pair of clothes. Everything else he'd packed from his old island sank along with the Going Merry.

The liar with the long nose lifted up a new slingshot. Sawyer spun, seeing the teenager standing close to the plane that everyone else was running from. "Are you stupid? What's a slingshot going to do against it?!" he ran back to grab the teen and take him, when the kid's legs stopped shaking and he pulled out a small ball out of the bag on his waist.

"The new weapon, Kabuto! Sure-Kill," he yelled and pulled back the slingshot as others turned and stared at him. "Gunpowder Star!" He fired from the side of the fuselage right as the beast came running out and it squealed loudly as a small explosion covered it.

Sawyer's eyes popped open wide and the kid turned to him and tapped his nose with his index finger. Usopp smirked at the expression on Sawyer's face, but then his face dropped as he heard two more loud growls behind him and turned just in time to see two more dark monsters charging out of the broken plane in his direction.

The redneck shook away his amazement at the teen's weapon and he dove, tackling Usopp to the ground. The two creatures sprinted past them and up into the forest where they escaped.

"They're gone," Claire said relieved as she walked back towards the plane. She watched as Sawyer helped Usopp to his feet and she was glad he was okay.

"What in the bloody Hell was that?" Charlie asked and took a few steps towards the squirming form on the ground in front of the plane wreckage.

"That my friends," the bald man with a scar going over the right side of his face started, "was a boar."

* * *

"Why am I here? This is stupid. I should have stayed back," Usopp was mumbling to himself and Kate asked if he said something. "Nope, nothing at all." He responded with a smile and the woman in a tan shirt with an orange undershirt nodded.

Kate fell back a little from where Michael and Locke were walking to stay with Usopp. They were going on a hunt to get more food since they were pretty much out at camp. Other than the small boar Usopp killed last night, that he was disappointed to learn from the bald guy was only a baby, they had run out of food from the plane. "So what was that weapon you used last night on the boar?" Kate asked, interested in what could have made that explosion.

"Well," he started in a lower voice since they were still trying to hide the fact that they weren't on the plane from most people including the black man and bald hunter up ahead. "When our ship went down, I was below deck. I got knocked around a lot when the hull was ripped by some shrapnel and I lost my slingshot." He reached behind him and pulled out the new one he made with stuff he found in people's suitcases along with a few pieces of bamboo. It was a larger, green slingshot that he was proud of. "I call it the Kabuto!"

Kate laughed as Usopp held the weapon over his head and then she stared at him as he kept talking about how he was going to be the greatest sniper who ever lived.

Locke suddenly had the group stop as he saw some fresh markings on a tree. The four of them moved slowly forward and they were all looking around for the source of those markings. The bald man who gave them all knives started motioning for Michael to make a loop around, but the black man had no idea what he was talking about and asked him to speak English.

That was the wrong move. The boar was hiding pretty close and as soon as Michael spoke it started charging them. Usopp dove to the side as Locke pulled Kate to the ground. Michael backed up and the boar charged straight through him, knocking him down. "Aggh, uggh," Michael moaned and was rolling around in the ground as the boar ran away.

"Michael!" Kate ran over and started helping the man who cut slashed by one of the boar's tusks. "Locke, Locke he's hurt!"

Usopp got up and turned towards the bald man who was lying flat on the ground next to him. John Locke wasn't moving, he looked shell-shocked and Usopp was freaking out. Locke looked down at his feet and finally they moved, letting him up on his feet. "I'm fine Helen. Which way did that boar go?"

"What? Who's Helen? Locke, Michael's hurt. We need to get him back to camp." Kate looked over at the man who didn't seem to realize what he just called her.

Locke was scaring Usopp and he stared at the determined look in Locke's eyes. "Yeah. You go do that, I'm gonna get the boar," the bald man replied and started walking off through the woods.

"What?!" Kate exclaimed and Usopp reached out to stop him but the bald man shrugged him off.

"It's alright, I can do this," he assured them.

"John, you can't," Kate called over.

Locke kept walking, "Don't tell me what I can't do."

Once he was out of their sight, Usopp and Kate got to work carrying Michael away before his injury got any worse. "Hopefully Jack is back by the time we hit camp," Usopp stated as he helped the limping man move.

They walked a little further before Kate had them stop. Apparently she was on a secondary mission to attach an antennae up a tree to help Sayid. Usopp lay Michael down and they watched as the girl climbed up a tree that looked unclimbable. "Whoa," Usopp watched as she climbed as fast as a squirrel.

She got as high as she could without breaking the branches and then got to work taking out Sayid's device and planting it in the tree. _**EECRASHWOMWOMWOM RARARACRACK.**_ Crazy loud noises started echoing around them and Usopp covered his ears as he curled up to make himself smaller. Whatever could hurt Luffy the way he was hurt could hurt him a lot more and he didn't want to have to face it.

"Locke," Kate called out as she looked through the trees and saw the direction the monster was going. She had dropped the device Sayid entrusted to her and it broke upon contact with the ground, but that wasn't her top concern as she stared off towards where their hunter was going to get eaten.

* * *

Nami was staring off to an empty section of the beach where an elderly woman was sitting down and staring off over the ocean. She'd heard around the camp that the black woman had lost her husband in the crash. _She hasn't been eating or drinking anything,_ Nami walked over and grabbed a couple of water bottles and then started walking towards the woman.

The orange haired girl sat down right next to the old black woman and just sat there for a few minutes, staring out over the ocean with her. As much as she didn't fit in with these people, she was exactly like them. She was stranded on an empty island, separated from her loved ones, trying to get back home. Her thoughts wandered to her sister, to Gen, and the rest of the villagers she cared so much about.

Nami started thinking about Arlong and how much she hated him. She feared him so much, and it was because of this fear that she knew she had to leave Luffy. If she got too attached, she'd want to stay with them, and they'd get caught up in her past and killed by Arlong. "Are you okay?" a voice asked. Nami jumped, shaken from her thoughts. She looked to her right and saw the black woman looking at her. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there with her, but the sun was definitely lower in the sky than before.

"Haha," Nami shook her head and smiled at the woman. "I came over here to see if you were alright," she felt silly that she was now the one being asked if she was okay. "I know you might want to be alone because of your husband's death, but I brought some water so-"

"My husband's not dead," Rose stated and Nami tilted her head, wondering if she heard wrong.

"Oh," the teenage girl said and looked at the wedding ring the black woman was holding in her hand. She thought maybe the woman was just having a hard time with his passing and asked, "Is that his?"

"Yes, he gets swollen fingers on flights, so I always have to carry it for him." Rose looked off into the distance and smiled.

"So," Nami was confused, "where is he?"

"He was in the bathroom when the plane crashed," Rose responded. "He went to the tail section of the plane and..."

Before she could continue, Nami smiled wide and cut her off. "Wait! He's in the tail section?" Rose turned to the girl who was smiling way too wide and she nodded. "That's great!"

The older woman wasn't expecting this kind of reaction and cocked her head at the younger girl, wondering what she was getting at. Nami decided to tell the woman a little secret she'd been keeping to herself since last night. She leaned in and whispered with a devious smirk on her face, loving being the bearer of good news. "You want to know why Jack isn't here today?" Rose nodded slowly and Nami continued, "It's because my friends found the group from the tail section of your plane."

Rose's eyes went wide and her hand clenched around the ring she was wearing on her neck. "Really?"

Nami nodded and started going into detail about how Luffy came and took the doctor to them because they had some injured people. Rose was smiling at the excited girl and even chuckled a few times before asking a question that caught Nami off guard. "You weren't on the plane, were you?" Nami's eyes widened and Rose continued to smile, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, though I don't know why you're hiding it. You should be more careful though," Rose started standing and Nami helped her to her feet. "You said, 'your' plane," Nami realized her mistake and shook her head at her slip up.

"Come on," Nami said and pointed over at the fuselage. It was starting to get dark and she saw Usopp, Kate, and Michael had returned. "Let's get back to the others." Rose nodded her head and the two of them walked back together.

* * *

It had been over two whole days since anyone had seen Jack. Locke returned the night before with boar and everyone was in a better mood now that they had something good to eat. Still, without the doctor a lot of people were concerned.

Claire walked over to a tree where the pilot was leaning and she looked down at him. Seth had a photo in his hand and it showed his wife and a young boy on it, probably his son. "We're going to have a memorial service for the people who didn't make it." The pilot was startled and put the photo away fast as he looked up at her, "I was thinking, maybe, you could say a few words."

"Why me?" Seth asked, standing up fast. "Why does everyone keep coming to me with these questions?" He grabbed his head and the concussion Jack told him about was making migraines that were messing with his thinking. "Sorry," he told the pregnant girl, "I-I can't."

Claire watched as the pilot walked off and into the forest. There were long stretches of time where she didn't see the man at all, and a lot of people were starting to get worried about him. The pregnant blonde girl walked back to camp and sat down with Kate who was going through luggage for more clothing.

They started talking and Claire was going over her ideas for the ceremony. A bunch of people had agreed that burning the fuselage would be the best course of action since any bodies they buried would get dug up by the boars. As they were talking, Claire suddenly dropped and Kate called for help.

Sayid and Charlie ran over and carried Claire across the beach. After laying the pregnant woman down inside the medical tent, Charlie realized something. "Where's the water? It was right here," he looked around and then the others all looked at him, "Someone's taken it."

Locke, Kate, Charlie, Nami, Usopp, and Sayid gathered in front of the tent and started discussing what had to be done. "Where is the pilot?" Locke asked and no one could tell him where he was.

"What about Jack?" Sayid asked Kate and the brown haired woman looked a little nervous.

Kate started quietly because she didn't want it to become that well known yet. She figured if she told a lot of people, they would head off after him if their loved ones were out there, and she wanted to keep people from wandering into the heart of darkness. "Luffy found the survivors from the tail section of the plane," the others went wide-eyed except for the pirate's nakama. "He took Jack to them because there were a few injured with them."

"And why did you wait this long to tell us?" Charlie asked, thinking he should have been kept in the loop.

"We didn't want everyone charging into the forest recklessly," Nami explained and the others realized she knew about it as well. "There are other things going on right now though."

"She's right," Sayid said, getting everyone back on topic. "Leaving the water all in one place was foolish."

Locke had his arms crossed and he warned their group about the situation. Once people learned someone had stolen all the water, things were going to get ugly. He offered to go off looking for it and Usopp offered to go with him. The bald man said that Kate and Sayid were needed at camp, and that was true, but Usopp didn't see any reason for him to stay. After seeing Locke come back alive, with a huge boar, after that monster was headed in his direction, he had complete faith in the bald man's ability to protect him out there.

"Sounds good," Locke said and nodded at the teen with the long nose.

"Be careful out there Usopp," Nami said to her friend as he walked away. He smiled back at her and rubbed the tip of his nose with his finger, showing he was confident enough in his ability to run away if something were to happen. She watched him leave and then the rest of the group disbanded.

* * *

Luffy's eyes opened and the first thing he noticed was that the sky was really blue. The second thing he realized was that he was moving.

The pirate turned his head to the side and saw legs of people walking around him. They were walking on a rocky surface with the start of the forest on one side of them. As he turned his head to the other side, he heard the loud crash of waves and saw a cliff edge where more people were walking and holding others in makeshift stretchers.

"He's awake," the teenage boy heard someone very close to him call out and the group stopped moving. His sheet was gently put down and the two people holding the sticks that held it together looked down at him.

Luffy gazed at his arms, and his stomach and chest. He felt so weak, "Meat," he mumbled and then made eye contact with a man standing right over him. "MEAT!" he yelled and the man stumbled backwards.

"Luffy," Jack called out and ran over to the boy in the straw hat. Ana Lucia was with him and she called for the group to hold up. Jack dropped down to his knees in front of the pirate. "You've lost a lot of blood." He pushed the teen down when he tried to stand and chuckled, "Not this time. You're not allowed to move around anymore, doctor's orders."

Luffy calmed his growling stomach for the moment and he looked around, seeing his swordsman lying in someone else's stretcher. "Zoro, Zoro," the other injured pirate wasn't moving, causing his captain to frown.

"He's alright," Jack told the boy he was kneeling in front of. _Somehow,_ Jack added on in his own thoughts. "You should be more focused on your own wounds right now." Luffy lay back as his stomach moaned again, he was so hungry. As soon as he lay back down, he fell asleep again.

"We're heading back to our camp," Jack told him as he closed his eyes. The doctor had spent the last day treating three wounded tail section people's injuries, while also having to deal with the two pirates' wounds since they didn't stay put back on their own beach long enough for their wounds to get better. "You need some more rest, and-" the doctor stopped as he saw someone near the start of the treeline.

Jack stood up fully and took a few steps towards the woods, but the strange man was gone. He vanished like he was never even there. Ana Lucia stood up and asked, "What are you doing?" She stared at the taller man who looked back at her and then pointed towards the trees.

"Did you see that?" he whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear him. "Right there, there was a man wearing a suit. Did you see him?"

"Jack," Ana Lucia put a hand on his shoulder, "when was the last time you slept?"

The doctor stared at her and realized what she was implying. _I'm not hallucinating,_ "I saw it," a voice stated. Jack turned and saw the man with green hair had his eyes open and was staring out at the tree line too. "As I turned that way, he disappeared, but I caught a glimpse of him."

Jack's mind was racing. That man, he looked so much like, like, _Dad?_ "We have to keep moving," Ana Lucia knocked him out of his confused state and he nodded to her, saying that she was right.

The people who had been carrying Zoro offered to keep doing so, but the young man shook his head and told them he just needed some booze and he'd be alright. Despite what he said, his head fell back down and he passed out again. He was unconscious, there were multiple injured from the tail section, and the captain started snoring quietly, sounding very weak. They had to get to Jack's camp soon.

Jack was looking around the tree line as the group kept walking. He was on alert because of what Ana told him about the people who attacked her group, but he was also looking out for that figure again. Something rustled in the bushes and Jack watched as a man with long blonde hair who he remembered from the tail section group walked out of the trees. The guy walked straight up to him since Jack was looking him in the eyes and Goodwin laughed, "When you have to go," he chuckled and walked right by the doctor.

Jack stared after him and Goodwin could feel the eyes tearing through the back of his head. _I haven't seen him in a while, what was he doing in there?_ The doctor watched him walk over and start talking to Ana Lucia as the rest of the group continued their trek.

"How much farther?" the young boy named Zach asked. His legs were tired and he wanted to take a break but he wouldn't say it out loud and be the burden.

Jack was distracted from the suspicious blonde man and looked down at the kid. "A few more hours if we follow the coast." The boy looked horrified that it would take that long, but his sister jogged over and scolded him for moaning when Jack responded. The doctor chuckled and rubbed his eyes, looking back straight ahead and continuing.

The large group had trekked for a long time, but Jack kept assuring them that as long as they followed the coast, sooner or later they would hit their camp.

The sun was setting when the group heard them. It started off quiet at first, but then grew louder and louder as the whole group stopped. They were no longer on cliffs, but instead walking across the sand with the trees on one side and the water on the other, effectively trapping them. That's when the whispers began.

Jack spun his head around as the whispers sounded like they were coming from every direction. People started yelling in fear and the two kids dropped to the ground and curled up. The doctor was looking around and didn't understand how some of the sounds could be coming from the water, there were no people in that direction. Night was falling, the beach was getting dark, and people in tan rags started sprinting out of the tree line.

"Run!" Jack shouted as he saw a group of two dozen sprinting out of the woods straight towards them. The doctor reached down to one of the dropped stretchers and grabbed the man with the broken leg, helping him up and trying to run with him.

When he passed by the dropped stretcher with the skinny teenager on it, he shouted at Luffy to wake up. The boy lay there with a snot bubble hanging out of his nose and he wasn't snoring like before, just laying there unmoving. Jack turned back around and was panting hard as he tried to help the screaming guy named Donald escape.

"Libby, get the kids!" Ana Lucia shouted to her blonde friend. Libby was scattering just like everyone else, but at the sound of Ana's request, she spun and stared wide-eyed at the children.

The tail section people were running towards the water, down either side of the beach, or in the large black man's instance- straight towards the enemies. Jack looked up the beach and saw four enemy men trying to take down the big one. He saw other people getting dragged off with bags over their heads and a woman right in front of him was about to get taken.

"Hey! Hey you!" Jack lowered Donald down who yelled for Jack not to leave him there. The doctor sprinted over to the red haired man who was dragging the woman away by her hair and he jumped up, punching the guy in the face. The woman was a flight attendant that Jack recognized from the plane, Cindy.

She started to thank Jack, but she stopped short when she saw the children. The two kids were getting taken. Zach was thrown over a large man's shoulder and Emma under the guy's muscular arm. Both of them were screaming, but with everyone else yelling at the same time, it was hard to make out their screams from the rest.

Jack was about to run towards the kids, but the man he punched in the face was back up and looking at Cindy. His curly red hair was much longer than the doctor's and he brushed it out of his face as he drew a knife from his waist. "Move," the figure stated in a cold demeanor.

The doctor wasn't going to listen to anything this guy had to say and as the man swiped, Jack swung his arm and blocked the man at the wrist, pushing the knife hand away. He charged forward and tackled the man to the floor, the two of them starting to grapple and fight for the knife.

Meanwhile, Emma bit the man carrying her on his arm and the guy yelped, dropping her on the sand. She backed up a few feet and tried to get to her feet and run, but she heard her brother's screams right in front of her and couldn't find it in her to leave him. "Get back here," the man turned and snarled at her. He had a large scar on his right cheek and his black hair was messy making him look terrifying. "Right, now!" he charged at the girl who backpeddaled on instinct and tripped over a stretcher that was dropped by Tailies who thought they could escape.

She fell right over the body on the stretcher and then the man walking towards her reached down. He reached over the man on the makeshift stretcher and got the young girl who was on the list. His hand clenched the girl by the collar of her shirt and he started lifting her back up. Emma got a few inches off the ground before the man lifting her suddenly stopped. His eyes turned huge and even the boy on his shoulder stopped struggling to stare in awe instead.

Jack was struggling underneath the strong red haired man on top of him. The guy was lowering the knife towards Jack's chest, and the doctor was pushing as hard up as he could to stop the blade, but it was still lowering. "Haa!" A form dove over Jack and tackled the curly haired man off of him.

The doctor sat up and rubbed his face from where he got punched a few times during the scuffle. He looked next to him where Ana Lucia had the ginger pinned down. She twisted his arm and plunged the knife into his chest. Jack looked the other way and his eyes went wide at the sight.

Everyone left on the beach, which wasn't a lot of people considering most had been dragged away by the strange mystery figures, stared at the man with green hair as he got to his feet. Zoro was gripping his enemy's wrist so tight that the two kids now on the floor next to him heard cracks inside of the kidnapper's bones breaking. "Ehh? Who are you?" Zoro asked the guy who was using his other hand to desperately try to pry Zoro's hand off.

The man roared and stopped twisting Zoro's fingers to instead punch him in the face. The swordsman smirked as the guy's fist was approaching him. The pirate reached his free hand to his waist, "Iai," Zoro said with a cocky grin as he unsheathed, swiped, and sheathed his sword again without anyone seeing the ridiculously fast motion. All they saw, was Zoro sliding his weapon back into his sheath, and the enemy's right hand lifting up in an arc, now separated from the attacker's body.

"How did he..." Cindy started and stumbled back, stunned at what just happened.

"Get lost," Zoro stated and threw the man over his shoulder. The guy was still in shock from the loss of his hand, and as he soared through the air over the water and into the distance, he just stared at his bloody nub that kept pouring out more and more of his blood supply. _Shit,_ the man thought, right before he hit the water and created a huge splash.

Ana Lucia looked around, "Is everyone alright?!" she shouted and anyone who was still there nodded and told her they were. They all started to panic and Jack could now see what they were all afraid of on the start of this journey.

"How did they know we were here?" Libby called out, starting a new controversy in the camp. Jack was looking down at the man Ana killed and he saw something sticking out of the red haired man's pocket.

The doctor removed the piece of paper and read it, a snarl slowly appearing on his face. He snapped his head around angrily and stared at the different people around him. Finally his gaze stopped on the blonde man who was helping the large black guy back to his feet.

Goodwin lifted the huge black man up and then turned, seeing everyone arguing about how they knew where they were even after they moved. "They had a list," Jack muttered and everyone turned back towards him. "Someone learned all your names, reported it to them," he started walking towards the blonde man he saw come out of the woods earlier. "There's a rat in your camp."

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked. It sounded ridiculous to him and to a few others, though there weren't many of them left.

"They even took the injured!" Bernard exclaimed as he looked around and saw only Donald and Luffy still on their stretchers. Libby was tending to the injured man's leg that seemed to have gotten messed up worse during the scuffle.

Donald was sitting up on the floor and he looked very afraid, "What if they come back again? Whoever it is could tell them where we are..."

"Where were you?" Jack continued walking straight towards Goodwin and now everyone turned and stared at the man Jack was accusing.

"What?" the blonde man asked. "I've been here the whole time. You're suspicious of me, while all we know is that you came out of the woods two days ago..."

"He was on the plane," Ana Lucia cut in. "I talked to Jack back in Sydney, before we lifted off." The woman didn't want to believe it was Goodwin, but she also saw him coming out of the woods earlier and something suddenly clicked in her mind. "How did you hear Bernard?"

"Ana you too?" Goodwin asked the Latina, hoping he'd have some support there. He looked around and realized everyone was staring at him now and he sighed. "I heard Bernard from the beach."

"He was a half mile in the jungle," Ana countered quickly. "You ran out of the tree line, minutes after the crash, completely dry. Tell me, how did you manage that?" Her question was left unanswered by the man who subconsciously took a step back and bumped straight into the tall silent black man who was glaring at him from behind. "Where did you take them?" Half of their group had just been dragged into the woods by a group of mysterious people. Ana Lucia wanted to know where.

Goodwin was silent and she stepped forward again, "Where are they Goodwin?!" She yelled and charged at him.

Goodwin threw an elbow backwards and caught the black guy right in the nose, making him stumble a step back. The blonde man turned and started running for the tree line, faster than Ana could catch him, but not faster than one of them.

A man suddenly appeared directly in front of Goodwin and the spy slammed straight into his muscular chest. Zoro's burns seared in pain, which only made the devilish smirk on his face the more terrifying. He looked down at Goodwin who started sweating badly, "Where do you think you're going?"

A few minutes of quick vengeance later, Ana finished with Goodwin and walked back towards the children who were a little afraid of the Hispanic woman now. "Let's get back already," Jack stated as he helped hoist their prisoner to his feet. "Then we'll figure out what he's doing here." They gagged the man and tied him up using shirts, but their biggest precaution was just by putting Zoro in charge of watching him.

Zoro didn't care about why those people came to kidnap a certain group of people. All he knew was that this man was a spy in their camp, and if the people on the island sent one to the tail section survivors, _Then there's probably a spy in our midst too._

 **A/N Whoa! Who expected the Others to attack this chapter? I bet you didn't! Anyway, they figured out Goodwin was a spy pretty quick. Will he give up the other spy?! How will Ethan respond? Is Luffy alright? Find out next time on LOST!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

Nami stood next to Usopp as the two of them stared at the raging inferno before them. Claire was standing in front of the fuselage and reading off names from wallets she found in people's bags. The blonde haired pregnant girl was saying nice things about the dead and guessing why they were in Australia from things she found in their belongings.

"...from Texas. I guess, she was getting a connecting flight..." Claire was almost finished and the sun almost finished setting. The fire was burning bright and a few people were hoping that the smoke would be seen by a rescue plane or boat. After the boars returned for a second night, this service became a necessity, even if a few people thought that burning the bodies was disrespectful to the dead.

"Locke still isn't back yet," Usopp whispered to his orange haired friend. He could see that Nami was getting pretty sad over hearing about all these innocent people. She noticeably winced when Claire mentioned a brother and sister who were just little kids trying to get home to their mom. He tried to get her mind off of it by talking about the bald man he went into the woods with earlier.

Locke told him to head back to camp and when Usopp asked where he was going, the bald man responded that he wouldn't be back until he found some water. "Do you think-" Nami started but the sharpshooter shook his head.

"I don't think anything can kill that man," Usopp was still stunned the man survived after that monster was heading straight for him the other day. Back when they were alone looking for water, he asked if John had seen anything. The bald man looked at him like he had something to say, but the hunter wound up just shaking his head and kept walking.

Usopp was shaken by his thoughts as he saw something through the flames. His eyes were better than most, so he was the first to see the shadowy figures on the other side of the fire. "Is that-" he started loudly and took a few steps forward. Nami looked at her friend and then followed his gaze down the beach.

The man with the long nose started running towards the water so he could get around the blazing inferno of the fuselage. "Where are you going Pinocchio?!" Sawyer shouted after the teen who looked back over his shoulder with a wide stupid smile on his face.

"They're back!" Usopp called out and stopped on the beach between the fire and the water.

Claire had two more names on the list and she was a little annoyed that the teenager interrupted her service, but everyone started running down to the shore hoping to see Jack returning. When they got around the blazing plane's mid-section, their eyes widened at the sight of the group walking towards them.

The sun was on the horizon making the water and sky look beautifully orange. Both groups stared at each other for a few moments without moving. A small stretch of beach separated them. One group of around ten with more than half of the people either carrying or being carried by a stretcher. The other group of about fifty five standing in the dancing flamelight of the burning fuselage.

Claire saw something that made her heart jump and a smile tug at her face. "Zach? Emma?" She called over towards the two children she recognized from photos, huddled next to a woman's leg. The two children lifted their heads at the sound of their names and most of the people on the beach realized something. Those were two of the kids they just had a memorial for.

"More survivors," Sayid muttered in shock and started walking towards the group.

"Rose!" An old man in the smaller group was more daring than the others who were being extra cautious after the last attack. "Rose?!"

"Bernard!" The old black woman started running across the beach and finally the two groups merged as people ran to each other. The woman reuniting with her husband was such a joyous occasion that a few of the tail sectioners forgot about the prisoner they had with them for the moment and smiled.

Jack pointed towards the medical station so that the people carrying the stretchers would bring them over, but as he was pointing he saw something else. There was a man in a suit with his back to him, staring off at the woods. He rubbed his eyes and looked in the same spot, but the man was gone. _What? Where did he..._ Jack spun around and looked to the swordsman who saw something last time, but Zoro was talking to Nami and Usopp while carrying their captain towards the medical station.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked with a motion of his head towards the plane.

"You've missed a lot," Usopp started in a heroic tone. "These huge beasts,"

"Boars," Nami corrected.

Usopp continued without pause, "...They were at least a thousand pounds..."

"Locke said over a hundred," Nami droned and Usopp began to sweat as he kept going.

"...Were in the fuselage eating the," he paused and waited for Nami to say it, but she didn't so he just said, "well, you know." Zoro nodded so Usopp continued, "I shot one with my new weapon!" He pulled it out again, glad to have another excuse to show off his invention. "And you missed a great meat dinner..."

"Meat," Luffy mumbled from the bed next to them while other people were laying down their friends.

"Stay asleep baka," Nami scolded him but it was unnecessary as he was still fast asleep. This actually concerned the three of them more than anything else that he didn't fully wake up at the sound of meat being mentioned. "What happened?" She turned to Zoro and waited for a response but the swordsman just shrugged.

"There are other people on this island," Zoro stated. The man sat down with his back leaning on the cushions his captain was on. It looked like he was just getting ready for a nap, but he was beginning to feel a little nervous, too much so to leave his captain alone in his state. "Be careful out there."

With that, Zoro's eyes closed and he passed out again. "You're an idiot too," Nami whispered as she stared down at Zoro's burnt up chest. "I'm telling Jack to put more bandages on him." She sounded angry but Usopp chuckled at the caring tone laced in her voice.

"Zoro needs his sleep, I'll stand watch here," Usopp offered. Nami nodded at him before walking back out of the tent to where the rest of the new group went after dropping off the other wounded. _And if any of those dangerous-sounding people show up, I'll have these two to protect me._

He relaxed and started laughing, though his eyes darted back to Luffy and Zoro's bodies and the amount of injuries on them. _I'm actually going to have to protect them,_ the realization dawned on him and his legs started shaking uncontrollably. "I'm brave, I'm brave," he whispered to himself, though it didn't help his courage much.

Outside the tent, a massive group of near seventy people were gathered. People were done celebrating the fact that there were more survivors. Shannon started in a very loud voice that exemplified how they were all feeling, "What do you mean there are other people on this island? They're trying to hurt us?!" The panic was spreading fast as the majority of the group were receiving this news badly.

"He's one of them?!" Sawyer asked with a menacing look on his face, looking around like he wanted someone to tell him to kick the tied up man's ass.

"Calm down," Ana Lucia tried shouting but the entire group was talking over each other and it was impossible to get their attentions. She had the huge black man watching over Goodwin and he seemed capable enough to handle him. "People!" nothing was working and she saw Emma and Zach clutching on Cindy's legs again.

"How do we know they aren't here to help us?" Charlie asked loudly.

"They kidnapped three of us on the first day!" someone else yelled back at the rockstar who didn't want to believe it.

Kate turned to Sayid and asked, "You think this is what the French woman was talking about?"

The Arab man didn't have an answer for her and he was as confused as everyone else. Sayid tried asking the large African man more specifics on what went on, but the man looked at him and didn't respond. Sayid thought the guy must be a mute or something.

"Where is the pilot?" Cindy called out.

"That's what I want to know!" Neil, or Frogurt, shouted. "Is he hiding or something?!" Seth didn't show up to the memorial service and everyone was wondering where he was.

"Jack, what should we do?" Hurley asked the doctor who was walking towards the medical tent.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" Jack had more important things to worry about. He gave the people on the other side of the island immediate treatment good enough to last until they got back, but the rest of the medicine was here, this is where he had to operate on Donald's leg.

"But the Others," Charlie said and stepped in front of the exhausted doctor whose head was pounding. "They could come back!"

"Well," Jack didn't have an answer for him and a bunch of people were looking at him.

"This is all your fault," someone pointed at Libby who was shocked by the accusation the tall blonde girl threw her way. Shannon continued screaming, "They didn't bother us at all before, but now that we have one of them prisoner, they're going to come after us!" A lot of people started shouting things in agreement and disorder was growing among the survivors.

"Calm down," Sawyer growled at a skinny man next to him who was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"We're out of water, the pilot is missing," Neil was counting off his fingers and the third thing he was worried about he shouted at the top of his lungs, "and people are coming to kidnap us!" Sawyer got in his face to yell back at him, when the whole beach suddenly became silent.

 **BANG!**

"Enough!" the huge crowd of people looked over to see Jack standing up on top of a piece of metal wreckage. He had the marshall's gun in his hand and had just used the last bullet after Kate suggested he do it during the arguing. He was taller than the rest of them where he stood and everyone could see him on top of the platform. "It's been eight days, and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come, but what if they don't? What if we're stuck here with those people?" Everyone stared at him as he stepped down and walked towards Neil, then looked at Sawyer, then all around at the people gathered. "We have to stop waiting."

The doctor continued in a more assured tone, "These _people,_ were on this island before us. They know what they're doing, and we're on their territory, but we want to fight, with each other?! We were all heading for LAX, and you're about to crucify them for what? Being in the back of the plane?!" He stared at Shannon who looked down at the floor. Jack shook his head and more people were feeling ashamed, though the Tailies were pretty relieved Jack was there. The doctor continued, "We can't do this. Every man for himself is never going to work."

Charlie was just pointing a finger at the Hispanic woman who led the group to them, and he looked at his shoes, disappointed in himself. Jack kept going and everyone was listening to him. Shannon looked up at the man taking charge in the place of the ever-missing pilot. "We need to start figuring things out if we're going to survive here."

"I found water," a voice shouted from behind Jack. Everyone turned and saw John Locke walking towards them from the treeline. The bald man was covered head to toe in dirt as he'd been in the woods for a long time now. He was heading back when he heard the gunshot, and he ran as fast as he could back to the beach. Looking around, he was stunned at what went on here while he was gone. "It's a small hike up in the valley."

"Great," Jack told the man who appeared out of nowhere. "We'll take a group in at first light." He looked around at all the terrified faces and knew he had to mention the people who attacked them. "I know it's scary. These, _Others_ , they're hiding out in the woods, and we know nothing about them," he paused and looked over at Goodwin with a glare, "at least not yet."

He spun around to make eye contact with more people. "If you don't want to come get water tomorrow, and you're not building fires, then find something else to help out with! Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And God knows how long we're gonna be here." He paused and let the realization dawn on a few people who were desperately clinging to the hope that a rescue boat was still looking for them.

Michael held his son close to him. Sawyer glared at the doc, but didn't say anything. Kate looked at the doctor whose wound she helped stitch shut on the first day. Nami hugged her arms to her chest and wished she could get off this island already. Jack looked around at them all, and he continued, "But if we can't, live together. We're gonna die alone."

* * *

Goodwin was sitting up with his back against a tree. He was tied up to the trunk and his mouth was gagged, but he started mumbling as he saw the figure approaching him. The tall form stood in front of Goodwin for a few seconds and then bent down to his knees.

Ethan frowned at the man who was sent to spy on the tail section. They made eye contact and Ethan whispered, "You failed." His hands shot up and grabbed Goodwin by the sides of the head, snapping his neck quickly. _I couldn't set him free and risk him getting caught and tortured. He would have given me up. This was the only way,_ he tried convincing himself as he snuck back into the shadows, going to disappear and get back to bed before the sentries watching the outskirts of camp saw the corpse of the captured prisoner. Ethan walked back towards his tent and his face showed no emotion despite the fact he just killed a friend. There was only one thing on his mind, _Claire, you're mine._

 **A/N The tail section and main group get together a lot quicker than last time! Luffy is still badly injured, but so is Zoro. The Others' existence has been revealed, but before Sayid can get some information out of Goodwin, he's "taken care of." Ethan is still in the camp, and he's planning on taking the pregnant girl. What will happen next?! Haha, hope you enjoyed! Leave me a comment below, and until next time, see ya!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

"Help! Somebody help!"

Charlie snapped out of his slumber and shook his head back and forth, wondering if the shouts he heard were in the dream or for real. "HELP!" This time he was sure he heard it and jumped to his feet.

The heroin addict hadn't found any shaving blades in the wreckage so far, so his beard was getting pretty long. His blonde hair was short and his clothes looked like his beard: messy. Charlie ran towards the source of the screams and then froze as he looked out over the water. "Oh my God," he whispered and took a step towards the water before looking down at the waves and freezing. "I don't swim," he whispered. He looked back out into the ocean, but his feet wouldn't move so he spun around.

"Help!" This time it was Charlie screaming and he ran down the beach yelling it. "There's someone out there! Help, someone!"

Jack was sitting on the sand, still without sleep for another night in a row. He was looking out over the waves, but he heard Charlie's screams and jumped up. "What?!"

Charlie saw Jack and ran towards him, pointing out over the water and yelling how someone was getting dragged out by the current. Jack looked out there himself and his eyes went wide as he saw the splashes in the distance. He could just make out a woman's screams over the waves.

The doctor wasted no more time and sprinted towards the water, throwing his shirt off as he ran.

"What's going on out there?" Zoro muttered as he leaned up, waking up to the sounds of shouts all over the beach.

Nami looked back in the tent flap to the man who she saw was no longer sleeping. "Apparently someone's getting dragged out to sea. Jack's swimming out to get them." Zoro stood up while she was talking a took a few steps out the door.

Usopp was already out and he was looking out over the water himself. The sharpshooter leaned forward and then turned his head a little to the right, then looked back left. "Wait a second," he muttered and the other two looked at him. "There isn't just one person drowning out there!"

The other two snapped their heads back to the water, but they couldn't see as well as the sniper could. The man with the long nose looked closer, "Jack's swimming towards a guy in the water, looks like... it's Boone!" He turned and had to squint this time and take a few steps forward. "There's someone much further though, she's drifting out fast..."

No sooner had the words left Usopp's mouth, that Zoro rushed across the sand and the green button-down shirt he found in a suitcase dropped off his shoulders, sliding off his arms. "Zoro!" Nami reached towards the injured man to stop him, to tell him that someone else could get her, but he was already at the water by the time she could shout that at him. All she could do was sigh and run forward with Usopp to see what would happen.

"What's going on?" Ana Lucia asked one of the people from the front section as she ran over to the shore.

The taller man next to her looked down. In a calm manner, Ethan spoke, "Joanna went for a morning swim and got pulled out by the riptide. The doctor just swam out to get-" Ethan stopped mid-sentence as he went wide-eyed at the sight of the person who sprinted behind Ana Lucia and jumped off the beach.

Ana looked back and her eyes became as large as Ethan's as she watched Zoro lift at least ten feet off the ground as he arced through the air into a dive in the water. The man with green hair started swimming forward, but for some reason the screams were getting farther away. He lifted his head out of the water and heard Nami's annoying shout from shore. "WRONG WAY IDIOT! FOLLOW USOPP!"

Zoro didn't know what she meant, until the water fifty feet to his right suddenly blasted up in a huge splash. _I get it,_ he swam towards where the water flew up, then towards the next splash as Usopp led him towards the woman.

Back on shore, a few people were staring at the man with the long nose in awe. Usopp could barely see the woman anymore, but everyone else had already lost sight of her. Jack swam into shore with Boone in his arms and he passed him off to a few people before sprinting back towards the water.

"Wait Jack!" Kate shouted and the doctor looked over his shoulder.

He shouted back at her, "There's someone still out there!"

Kate yelled back, "Zoro's already out there!"

Jack looked back at the other two pirates, one of which had a slingshot drawn and was amazing people by how far he could shoot his little explosives.

"Can you even see her anymore?" Charlie asked the guy next to him. He wasn't asking skeptically; his voice was a low whisper and he truly wondered if the long nosed man could see her.

The pirate looked closer and was about to say yes when he gasped. "She went under!" Usopp shouted in panic and everyone else covered their mouths in fear. _It's now or never Zoro,_ the teen thought. Usopp fired another Exploding Star right where the woman went down, then fired two more in the same spot.

Zoro understood the message and dove underwater where all three explosives hit. He swam down and opened his eyes, trying to see in the cold, dark seawater. He swam in a large circle and all the way down until he hit the bottom. _Running out of breath_ , his cheeks puffed out and he started swimming up. He got about ten feet when he saw a flailing arm in the corner of his eye. _Got you!_ He grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her up with him as he swam back up to the surface.

Everyone was staring out at the water in fear. A lot of them had even forgotten about the amazing jump the swordsman made a few seconds ago when he dove far into the water. They were too concerned about this woman who was about to drown.

"Well?" Charlie asked Usopp who was looking back and forth, not seeing anyone.

"Does he have her?" Jack asked and the long nosed man shook his head slowly.

"I don't see..." Usopp's face lit up and he jumped in the air. It was nowhere near as impressive as Zoro's jump, but he punched his right hand holding the slingshot up in the air in victory. "HE'S GOT HER!"

"Yes!" Charlie shouted and started laughing as he danced around with Usopp. Nami sighed a deep breath of relief and muttered something about killing Zoro because it took so much work to get him to the woman since he couldn't swim in a straight line.

Jack looked at Usopp for a few more seconds to make sure the kid wasn't just making things up, but Usopp didn't look like he was lying. The doctor walked back towards the water and leaned in, looking as far out as he could. Just as a wave dropped and a new one was forming, he saw the individual splashes of a person swimming back towards shore.

"Th-thank you," the person in Zoro's arms mumbled to him. Her eyes were closed and she had her head tilted back. She was exhausted after fighting the tide for so long, but this man had her now, and boy was he strong. She held onto his muscles tighter to make sure she wouldn't fall, and Zoro kept swimming with one arm to bring them back to shore.

He didn't respond to Joanna, but he was relieved she was okay as well.

Zoro brought the woman all the way to shore and then carried her out of the water over his right shoulder. When the muscular man stepped out of the water, a few people stepped back out of pure instinct. Yes, the guy had just saved this woman, but fear led to distrust, and they were afraid of what this _very_ muscular man could do after he showed an inhuman feat a few minutes before.

Jack was one of the few that didn't back away and he ran towards Zoro, asking the man to put her down. "It's alright," the swordsman replied. "Wake up," he shook her as he removed her from his shoulder and steadied her on her feet.

Jack thought she might need CPR, but after Zoro shook her, the woman woke right up and looked shaken up from the ordeal. The doctor looked at Zoro and nodded, signaling he'd take it from there.

"You got it," the green haired man responded, not wanting to have to be bothered by it any longer. He started walking away and Usopp and Nami followed after him.

Charlie looked back at the crowd, then to Jack and Joanna, then to the people walking away. He could hear what the other survivors were whispering behind him. They didn't trust these guys, but he did.

"Hey, wait up!" He jogged up the shore and Usopp looked back and smiled at the guy running towards him. "U-sopp, right?" Charlie asked, thinking he might have been pronouncing it wrong since it sounded like a pretty odd name.

"That's me," the man with the slingshot responded. "The one and only, Captain Usopp!" He posed and Charlie nodded his head slowly.

"Uh-huh," he said with a small grin. The two of them walked behind the man with green hair and woman with orange hair as they headed up towards their tent. "So... What are you the captain of?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Usopp shouted and the two people in front of him groaned and tuned out the liar from anything he was about to say.

"You think Luffy will wake up today?" Nami asked her friend as the two of them sat down in the tent.

"...crew of 200,000 men! We traveled the whole world..."

Charlie walked in the ten behind Usopp and his eyes went wide. They weren't getting bigger because of the ridiculous story he didn't believe in the slightest, his eyes widened at the sight of the inside of their tent. Yeah, he just saw a man jump really high up in the air, and that was crazy, but these digs were nuts too.

Zoro was able to do a lot of heavy lifting, so they had a few larger pieces of metal that weighed too much for the main group to move. Using those as a base, as well as two broken trees that the swordsman provided them with, and a tarp they had, they created a nice shelter that kept out rain and could hold four people. Nami even made a curtain out of some clothing she found in luggage so she could have her own separate room for some privacy, even if it wasn't very big.

"I didn't realize this place was so big from the inside," Charlie whispered as he looked around. The side he usually saw that faced the beach was just a large chunk of metal, "You made this in one day?"

"Yep!" Usopp said and was about to start bragging again when Nami jerked a thumb at Zoro and gave him all the credit. "Hey that's not fair," Usopp moaned, "he might've lifted everything, but I tied it together and designed the interior, and-"

"Sheesh," Nami held up a hand for him to stop. "Okay, we all made it," she accepted and nodded her head stoically.

Both Usopp and Zoro jumped up and slapped the air in front of her, "All you did was make that curtain!" They shouted at her and she just smirked. Charlie started laughing and he really liked these guys, they were funny.

She looked away from them and looked to the other side of the tent where Luffy was lying. "Jack says he should be dead," she whispered and the others all looked at Luffy.

Charlie gulped as he remembered the teen falling out of the sky and making a crater in the ground. "Nothing can kill him," the rockstar muttered with a shake of his head.

"You got that right," Usopp agreed and rubbed his nose with his finger. "When he wakes up though, he's going to be very hungry."

"You're right," Zoro realized and stood up. He looked at Charlie and Usopp and asked them, "You saw a bear didn't you?"

At this point, Charlie didn't bother being surprised and he just nodded. Zoro grabbed his katana with the white hilt from the side of his mattress made of blue seat cushions from the plane. "We eat bear tonight."

"Baka," Nami stated as Zoro walked out of the tent. "We'll have to find something else to eat. Luffy'll eat a whole bear on his own."

Zoro leaned his head back in the door and smirked evilly, "That's why I'm getting two." He popped his head back out and the cloth closed on him.

"He's joking," Charlie started and looked around the tent at the other two. "Right?"

Usopp put a hand on his new friend's shoulder and shook his head. "You have a lot to learn my friend."

* * *

"Locke right?" Zoro asked as he walked up to the bald guy in the hunting vest. John Locke turned around and saw the muscular man with green hair whom he saw lift a huge chunk of debris during the plane crash to save the man pinned beneath.

"That would be me," the hunter replied and slid the knife he was holding back into a sheath on his waist. "What can I do you for?"

"Mister!"

Both men turned to the water which was on John's left and Zoro's right since the two were facing each other near the forest's edge. Jack was walking towards them without his shirt on, and a soaking wet woman was jogging in front of him towards them. "You saved me," the woman told Zoro as she got near him. "Thank you, thank you so much..."

Zoro looked back at Locke, "You're going hunting for boars right? You think you could track a bear?"

"Excuse me," the woman started again and took another step closer to her savior. She reached out a hand and placed it on Zoro's shoulder, but he just shrugged it off.

John looked back and forth between the woman and the young man awaiting an answer. "Well, I suppose I could. But how do you expect to-" John stopped mid-question as the man he was talking to flicked his thumb up. The katana at his waist flashed a glare from the sun right in Locke's eyes.

"Listen Joanna," Jack reached out from behind the woman and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little, starting to fear the man who'd saved her and being startled by the sudden touch. "Why don't you go sit down for a little, I'm sure you're still a little shaken up."

She nodded at him fast and then ran back down towards the acquaintances she'd made in the past few days. Jack looked up and opened his mouth to say something to Zoro who was being rude, but the teen with green hair was looking down the beach at the soaked woman jogging away. It had been the first time he'd looked at her since they approached. Jack was confused, but he closed his mouth and listened as Locke asked if there were even bears on the island.

"Haha," Jack chuckled and the other two looked at him. "Yeah, Sawyer shot one in the woods the other day. A polar bear apparently."

Before Locke could even ask how Sawyer got the gun, Zoro mentioned impatiently, "Can we go? I've gotta get this food back before my Captain wakes up. He's going to be pretty hungry." Zoro didn't let it show to his nakama, and not now either, but he was worried about Luffy's health and meat seemed like it would make everything better.

Locke opened his mouth to argue that a boar would be more than enough for his "captain" and a lot of other people, but he closed it and smiled. "Right away," he agreed and started walking off towards the woods. Any chance to head off into the jungle of this magical place the rest of the group called an 'island' was a good opportunity for him.

"You coming?" Zoro turned to Jack and asked, but the doctor in the black suit was looking down the beach and in the water. He was so focused, so Zoro didn't turn that direction, instead using his peripheral vision to see who Jack was looking at. "That man again," Zoro muttered in a low growl. John spun around, seeing where Jack was looking and turning that way as well.

Jack rubbed his eyes as the man standing in the water suddenly disappeared. "Did you see that?" Jack spun to Zoro and asked, and the man with green hair nodded slowly.

"What? What did you see?" Locke asked the two of them.

"There was someone in the water," Zoro answered and Jack couldn't believe someone else had seen it. The doctor thought he might have been going insane, that maybe he was hallucinating, but how could Zoro be having the same hallucinations? "He disappeared when you looked at him."

"Ahh," Locke responded with a nod of his head, not sounding all that surprised. He looked back at the forest with a smile and Zoro gave him an odd look. "This island is full of surprises," John said. The bald man walked into the woods and Zoro cracked a grin, following him in. He was glad not everyone here was so arrogant and against believing what they saw with their own eyes.

The swordsman stopped after a few feet and looked back. "Hey Jack," the older man turned and looked at the back of the young man who called himself a pirate. "Mind checking on Luffy?"

"You got it," Jack replied quickly, realizing he'd been forgetting something all morning.

As Jack walked away, a person jogged over towards the two hunters heading into the woods. "Care for one more?" The man asked the two and they turned to look at Ethan.

"Sounds good to me," John replied.

"Whatever," Zoro said, not really caring who else came with them.

The group started walking again with Ethan behind the other two. The man disguised as a survivor was glaring at the back of Zoro's head. _You weren't on the plane Roronoa Zoro. So what are you doing on our island?_

 **A/N Zoro saves Joanna this time around, unlike in the show when she drowns before Jack can go back for her. Luffy is still out from his injuries, but now Zoro, Locke, and Ethan are heading out to look for some bear meat! Little do they know, Ethan isn't who he says he is. Look out! XD Anyway I hope you're enjoying this story and leave me a review if you liked the chapter. Tell me what you thought or predictions you have... or any pairings you want. Nothing is set in stone: who will die? Who will get with who? What about... well, everything else on the island they haven't gotten to yet? Haha, hope you're looking forward to it! 'Till next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Lost.**

 **Chapter 12:**

Two nights after the people from the tail section, appropriately named the Tailies, arrived, everyone met up on the beach for an important meeting. Jack had suggested bringing people to the caves the next morning so they could stop carrying water back and forth from the area, but for now they were all still living on the beach.

The meeting brought up the Others, but then someone mentioned something about the French woman and that cat was out of the bag too. The whole group was arguing about their best plans of action, but no one could answer the simplest question of them all: 'Where are we?' Once it was asked, everyone became silent and the mood was pretty depressing.

"What's going on?" A sleepy voice asked.

Everyone looked over at the same time as a figure shadowed by firelight was walking towards them. Nami's eyes went wide and she smiled from ear to ear.

"Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed and ran forward, giving his friend a huge hug.

Jack took a few steps towards the boy in the straw hat too. "Luffy, you're awake," he was pretty amazed by the fact this teen was walking around, but he wasn't questioning it, not after their trip through the jungle to the Tailes. He still couldn't believe the strange rubbery power this boy possessed, but he was glad the teenager was alright.

"I feel like I've been asleep for a while," Luffy reached his arms above his head and yawned.

"It's been over three days Captain," Zoro called over to him.

"Three days?!" Luffy shouted in horror and lifted his hands, quickly counting on his fingers. "I've missed fifteen meals!"

"Wow! I've never seen you do that much math!" Nami exclaimed.

"And hey! You were counting five meals a day!" Usopp shouted at the other teen.

Charlie and Hurley started laughing along with Usopp at Luffy's frantic expression.

"Don't worry," Zoro walked towards his captain and started speaking. "There's some food cooking over the fire near our tent..."

"I smell it!" Luffy yelled. He wondered where that good meaty aroma was coming from. The pirate started running back across the sand.

Zoro turned back to the large crowd looking at him and he sighed. The green haired man pointed a finger over at the tent and muttered, "There's enough for everyone. We're having polar bear for dinner."

"Polar bear?" Michael asked skeptically.

"You haven't heard about the polar bears?" Charlie asked the black man who was stunned they were actually serious. The rockstar looked around and then raised his hand high, "I want some." He took a few steps then looked back at his friend Hurley, "Come on, I know you want some."

The fat man's stomach rumbled at exactly that moment and Jack and Kate couldn't help themselves from laughing as Hurley chased after Charlie. "You want to go?" Jack asked Kate who was smiling after the group walking away.

She looked at the doctor who had taken charge of the meeting and nodded, proud of him. "Sure, let's go." Kate looked over at Claire who was smiling at the green haired man who saved her during the crash. Claire started walking over with the doctor and Kate, and a few others started following them too.

Seth Norris took a few steps back from the edge of the group and sat down with his back up against a piece of metal wreckage. _Thanks Jack. I wasn't cut out for this._ The doctor was pretty much leading the meeting and no one had brought up anything about how the pilot wasn't taking charge. He looked up at the sky, _I wasn't even supposed to be flying that day... Frank, where were you?_

The majority of the survivors were hesitant about following the group across the beach. People were whispering and suspicion was going around.

"I don't trust them," Sayid muttered to Scott and Steve who he was standing next to. "The one with the long nose and the orange haired girl are alright, but the other two have more strength than any man I've met. It's unnatural."

"I agree," another man added who was standing next to Sayid and the three of them turned to the taller fellow. Sayid looked like he didn't know the man's name, so the guy held out a hand, "Ethan."

"Nice to meet you Ethan," Sayid said and the 'Canadian' guy shook his hand.

A woman next to Steve grabbed his arm and he turned and looked at her. "They're weird, but," a few other people looked her direction now and she continued, "but he, the man with green hair, he saved my life this morning. I trust him."

Joanna finished talking and then hesitantly turned around. She took a deep breath and then started walking away. Steve nodded and followed after her, remembering watching his female friend get saved from drowning earlier that day. He got to her side and took her hand, giving her more courage to walk towards that other group and get some food from them.

Sayid sighed. He witnessed the same thing, and he had to admit, they didn't seem like bad people. He watched as Boone started walking that way despite his sister grabbing his arm to try and stop him.

"Tasty! This meat is so good!" The shouts from only a few dozen yards away were making more of their stomachs rumble. The smell from the growing fire was becoming too much for a lot of them to handle, and they started walking over as a large group which seemed like the tastiest, safest option.

Ethan growled, but calmed himself and followed after the rest of the group, blending in as well as he could.

Luffy was tearing chunk after chunk from the large roasted bear in front of him. It wasn't seasoned, and it was a little burnt since they left it going for a while, but it tasted great.

"How did you manage all of this?" Jack asked Zoro as the swordsman used one of Locke's hunting knives to cut a slice off one of the cooking bears. There were three of them, impaled with long sticks, held over one large fire. Usopp was surprised since Zoro said earlier he was only getting two, but Zoro really outdid himself.

Zoro grunted and stabbed the piece with the knife, putting it on his own plate. He finished chewing the piece he already had in his mouth then pointed the knife towards Locke who was cleaning some knives, already being near the bears when Jack gave his speech. "He skinned and did the hard work," Zoro wasn't much for taking the credit where it wasn't deserved. "All I did was kill them."

"And you did that, with your sword?" Jack motioned at the weapon sitting at Zoro's side. Zoro thought back to the three bears Locke found in the cave a few miles in the woods. The other two with him didn't see anything, because he went into the cave alone, but when he came out, he was dragging three dead bears behind him. The swordsman took a bite of his food and nodded, holding out the knife for Jack to take. "Well," Jack started and grabbed the knife, "thank you very much." He leaned in and cut a slice off for himself.

When the doctor turned back to sit down, he saw a large crowd of people standing hesitantly by the edge of the circle surrounding the fire. Jack smiled over at them and then looked back at the bears. The piece he just sliced, he put on a plate, then walked back towards the group and handed it to Walt. The ten year old black boy smiled and accepted the food, running over and sitting next to Hurley. The fat man and Charlie were listening as the guy with the long nose was telling a far-fetched story that even though they could all tell it was fake, it was still entertaining.

"There's enough for everyone," Jack told Sayid and Ana Lucia who seemed to be heading the group that was hesitant to join.

All of a sudden, Luffy jumped up on an elevated piece of rubble and started singing. He had a chunk of meat in his right hand and his belly looked bloated. "The islands in the south~~ are warmmm." He was humming a strange rhythm in the background and it was actually pretty catchy.

"Anyone have any booze?" Zoro looked around and asked.

"I've got some," a man responded and Zoro looked back to see a guy with long blonde hair walking over. "Seeing as I'm gonna be eatin' your food, I'm willin' to trade."

Sawyer reached in his pocket and pulled out a few small bottles he ransacked from the fuselage. He tossed two to Zoro who opened the strange bottle and sniffed it. It smelled strong and he smirked, nodding at the man who pulled out a cigarette and started smoking.

"Second verse!" Luffy shouted.

"There's more?!" Hurley asked between laughs at how weird the first verse was.

The teenager in the straw hat continued singing. "The islands in the north~~~ are very colllddd~! Hyakkoi kokoi~~ their heads shiver all around!"

More and more people were sitting down near the large fire that smelled better and better the more the meat got cooked. Luffy's cheerful and carefree attitude was putting a lot of them at ease since he really didn't seem like the type of guy who would hurt any of them, despite what they heard about his strength. The first bear put on the flame was taken off since Zoro realized it was getting burnt. Now everyone was lining up as Locke and Jack helped slice pieces off for them to eat.

"How can you have a party at a time like this?!" Ana Lucia growled quietly as she came up behind Jack.

The doctor was busy laughing at Luffy's song and he had to stop himself to match the serious expression on Ana's face. He coughed and cleared his throat before serving another slice of meat and then turning to the Latina woman. "Well, everyone seems happy don't they? It's a good change from the usual mood around here."

Ana looked around and saw even the members from her own group looked like they were happy. The three kids were enjoying themselves and started dancing around Luffy. She looked towards the woods and frowned, "We have no idea when they'll strike next. It's not safe..."

"Ana," Jack grabbed her by the shoulders. Hurley was annoyed because he was up on line for another piece of meat and Jack was holding him up, but he could wait a minute. The doctor smiled at the former police officer and said, "There is not a safer place on this island," he turned his head towards the center of attention, the boy in the straw hat dancing around like an idiot. The man finished, "Than with him, right here."

With that, Jack patted Ana on the shoulders and turned back to the line. After serving Hurley, he looked back at the hesitant woman one more time. "Go enjoy yourself," he said with a laugh, "it'd be a nice change to see a smile on your face."

Ana Lucia sighed and shook her head as she looked down at the sand. When she looked back up, she had a small grin on her face. The woman nodded at Jack and demanded, "I'm next."

The doctor looked at the line of people who at this point were mainly going up for seconds. He looked back at her and then sliced off a chunk from the meat slab he had between him and John.

As the doctor handed it back to her, the man in front of Jack groaned. "Why does she get a piece before me? Wait on line like the rest of us."

"Calm down Frogurt, you're up next," Jack handed the man a chunk if meat and the man with the strange nickname grabbed it and put it on his plate.

"It's Neil," the man mumbled his complaint, but he didn't really care what anyone called him at the moment. All anyone cared about was the delicious meat before them.

Sc

The party lasted a long time, with Charlie making an appearance to sing one of his band's songs: 'You All Everybody.' A bunch of people recognized it and joined in with him, and a lot of others who didn't recognize him at first were amazed that they had a rockstar in their midsts.

Someone asked him to play his guitar, but he said it was lost in the crash. "A tragedy I know," he told them, smirking at the ladies who were watching him. He finished up his act and then walked away from the group as Usopp began a strange chant about how amazing he was.

Charlie walked over to a tree nearby and leaned up against it, sliding his hand in his pocket. "Hey Charlie are you okay?" Luffy asked the guy with short blonde hair.

The former member of Driveshaft spun around fast and dropped what he had halfway out of his pocket. "What's that?" Luffy asked and picked up the little bag before Charlie had the chance to. The teenager scared the crap out of Charlie with his sudden appearance, but now the man was angry.

"Give that back!" Charlie grabbed at Luffy's hand and ripped the little baggie out of his friend's grip. The man looked at Luffy and saw the surprised reaction on the teenager's face. "What? Don't you judge me," he snarled at the teen in the straw hat who took a step back.

Luffy had never seen Charlie like this before, and it was unnerving. "What was in that bag?" He asked slowly.

"Don't act like you don't know," Charlie replied back, trying to calm himself down as he did. He was caught about to do drugs, but this was Luffy right? He could trust him, he wanted to trust him, so he turned and started, "Listen, I know I'm a bloody idiot, but I'm running out anyway. There's only a little left. Just don't tell anyone else about it alright?" He didn't want them to know he was a junky, and he was scared of the detox he was going to have to go through.

"Alright then," Luffy said and ran back in the direction of the party.

Charlie sighed a deep breath and stared at the little bag in his hand. He wanted it now, but he slid it back into his pocket, saving it for when Luffy wouldn't be expecting it.

* * *

"So," Jack finally got his own plate set up and walked over to where Luffy was sitting with his friends. Kate was also there, sitting next to Nami, and Jack sat down next to her on the other side. The group looked at the new person joining them and most of them smiled. "How are your injuries treating you guys?"

Luffy reached both arms above his head and stretched normally. "I feel great! All I needed was some meat." Jack sweatdropped at the strange medication the kid needed for himself, but he'd never treated a rubberman before, so why not?

"I'm fine," Zoro added while lifting up a small black bottle in his left hand. "I just needed some... what did he call it, uhh," Zoro looked at the bottle and tried reading it, but it was dark and he just squinted at it harder.

"Liquor?" Kate asked with a laugh.

"Yeah," Zoro pointed at her and said. His cheeks were red and Nami looked at him, instantly yelling about how he was holding out on her. "That guy thought he could out drink me," Zoro added with a smirk and pointed over his shoulder where Sawyer was leaned up against a tree passed out.

Kate gawked and Jack cracked a smile before both started laughing.

* * *

When everyone was full and exhausted, the party began to die down. A lot of people had slowly started to open up to the strange group of four who were also the life of the party.

Usually, during the night, all the survivors would find small groups and make their own fires to sit at. Tonight however, everyone was sitting around the same fire. Around seventy people at the same campfire.

"...and then a sea monster came out of nowhere!" Luffy rose both his arms and shouted, "It was huge!"

"Whoa," Zach whispered. Cindy chuckled at the little boy's reaction, but as the flight attendant looked around, she realized a lot of people other than the children were smiling and listening closely to this story that sounded so fake and ridiculous that it couldn't be real.

"It ate the mountain bandit and the boat he threw me off of in one bite," Luffy clapped his arms together making a loud slapping sound that echoed around the campfire, scaring a few people with the loud noise and making them scoot back in their seats.

Kate was lying on her side and staring at the teen in the straw hat in wonder. He didn't look like he was lying, and she knew a few things about lying. Somehow, he really believed the story he was telling. But that couldn't be possible, so he must have just really been a great storyteller

Jack was behind her, smiling at the teen who had everyone's attention. He felt a thud next to him and turned his head right, seeing Charlie had just sat down next to him.

The rockstar had a faraway look in his eyes and he let out a long deep breath of relief. This time he managed to get a fix without anyone interrupting him. He stared at Luffy intensely as the teen walked around the fire and threw his arms around while telling his campfire story.

"...coming right at me!" The pirate continued and now everyone was listening to him, no matter whether they believed the story or not. "I couldn't swim, and it was racing through the water faster than I could even see at the time."

Luffy stopped talking and walked over to a piece of metal near him that had some of the water bottles a group got earlier sitting on it. He grabbed one of the cups and sipped it slowly. "Mmm, that tastes good..."

"Finish the story!" Walt shouted impatiently at the teen who everyone was following with their eyes, anticipating the ending. Michael might have scolded his son for being rude, if he wasn't so interested in how Luffy would have escaped had this been a real situation.

The man in the straw hat turned and grinned at Walt, a glint shining in his eyes. "The next thing I knew," he began and everyone leaned in, even his own crew members who also hadn't heard this story before. "The giant sea serpent was on my left, its jaws closed having just chomped down on where I _was_. But I wasn't there anymore," the teen took off the hat on his head and looked at it as he continued. "Shanks came for me-"

"Shanks did?!" Emma exclaimed and then held her hands over her mouth, wanting him to finish. They heard how cool the red haired pirate was when he came to save Luffy the first time back in town, but now he was back in the story again!

"Yeah!" Luffy answered the little girl, not annoyed at all by the interruption. "He pulled me out of the way right as it was about to get me. Then, he did the coolest thing as the beast came back around a second time to get us. Shanks lifted his head and stared straight at the monster, stopping it in its tracks. The serpent started sweating, it was terrified, and then Shanks said..." Luffy paused and put on his best Shanks' expression. " _ **Get lost,**_ " every person around the campfire felt chills the way Luffy said it. "Then, it swam away with its tail between its legs. What a coward," Luffy started laughing again while the children ooed and ahhed at his story.

"So Shanks is a really cool guy huh?" Zach asked and Luffy nodded.

"Yeah he is. When he pulled me away, he lost his left arm, it got bitten right off." At this point a lot of people lowered their jaws at the impressive detail in what they thought was just a story. "He told me, 'It's just an arm. I'm just glad you're okay.' That's when I decided, I was going to become the best pirate the world had ever seen, even better than Shanks."

Nami's eyes opened wide as she realized what her captain was saying. She looked around and a lot of people around the fire thought he was joking, but she did see a few nervous glances here and there.

"Haha, what do you mean?" Michael asked, a smile still on his face from the touching story.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy told him proudly and placed his hat back on his head. "Once we can find a new ship, we'll be setting off this island. We still need a cook in the crew, that's who we were searching for when we crashed here. I want a musician too... What?" Luffy noticed that the black man in front of him had dropped his jaw and taken a few steps back.

Jack stopped smiling and he looked around the fire, realizing the happy vibe from before was gone. The three children still looked happy, confused, but happy. Other than that though, every other person was feeling extremely nervous.

"He's joking right?" Scott asked and looked around, but no one answered him.

"What do you mean your ship?" Sayid stood up and took a step towards Luffy. The fire behind Luffy was raging and crackling, but it couldn't be heard over the talking of the people around the fire who were starting to freak out. "Are you saying you weren't on the plane?"

"Nope," Luffy said and tilted his head sideways at Sayid's shocked reaction. "When your metal bird thingy broke, a piece of it broke our hull and the Going Merry, our pirate ship, sank."

A few people were arguing about how Luffy must be lying because they saw him during the crash, but he just kind of explained how that was possible. "What?" Zoro asked from where he was leaning back against a piece of wreckage. "Did we ever say we were on the plane?"

Both Nami and Usopp shrank back and looked at each other nervously. "A-Actually Zoro," Usopp started and the swordsman turned to him with an annoyed look, making the guy with the long nose jump in fright and hide behind Nami.

"We didn't want you to freak out!" Nami tried to explain to everyone quickly, standing up. She saw a lot of people looking her way nervously and she had to try and calm them down now. "Like you are now," she added quietly. "It was my fault really, I tried to keep it a secret."

"Oh," Luffy looked at the girl with orange hair, "was it supposed to be a secret? Sorry," he bowed his head but she shook hers.

"No, I shouldn't have tried to hide it. I was planning on saying something... eventually, but then we heard about the other people on the island. I didn't want everyone thinking we were part of them..."

"And how do we know you're not?" Cindy asked, keeping the kids close to her.

Zach pushed away from the flight attendant who reached for him but didn't grab him in time. The boy ran across the fire and over to the guy with green hair who people were looking at accusingly. "He saved me! When they came to take me, he stopped them. Why would he do that if he was one of them?"

Zoro grunted and took a sip from the strong alcohol that Sawyer gave him.

"So you're really pirates?" Michael asked the teenager. The black man stepped back next to Sayid and pulled his son close to his leg.

"Yep," Luffy stated. "We're gonna have a lot of adventures together." The teen in a straw hat fell back on the sand and looked up at the stars. "It's going to be great. Pirates are free."

The captain dozed off, exhausted from a whole night of partying, (as well as his supposedly healed injuries). Sayid looked down at the impossibly strong teen that struck fear into his heart. He'd been through war, but this kid was terrifying with the strength he'd exemplified. The Iraqi took a step forward, thinking that something needed to be done to ensure everyone was safe.

The Arab man suddenly froze still as he was glaring down at the teen with ill-intent in his eyes. He felt his skin start getting wet as his pores opened and he began sweating like crazy. His hair stood on end and he slowly lifted his gaze to the other side of the fire where the green haired man was glaring right back at him, one hand on his side resting dangerously close to his sword.

Sayid was a trained soldier, but the look Zoro gave him made him step instinctively away from Luffy.

"Come on Walt, let's get out of here," Michael pulled his son along against Walt's protests about how he liked them.

"You really weren't on the plane then?" Charlie asked Usopp. The sharpshooter shook his head 'no.' Charlie nodded with a thoughtful look and said, "Huh." Usopp expected a stronger reaction, but the rockstar currently doped up on heroin just stared off into the distance and thought about Luffy's strange story.

"What?" Sawyer sat up from the tree and swayed where he sat, "Is the party over already?!" The drunk man fell back asleep quickly, but he was right, it was over.

"Jack," Kate whispered and the doctor turned her way, seeing Kate talking to Nami alone. He walked over towards them and the woman with brown hair started, "A lot of people are going to be against letting them stay here."

"We don't own this beach," Jack stated, firmly giving his stance on the issue. Nami smiled in relief and Jack continued, "I'll try to calm people down, but you may want to lay low for a few days."

"Got it," Nami agreed, not wanting to get in any more trouble. "You should be more worried about the others though. If they try picking a fight with Luffy or Zoro, it's not going to end well for them."

Jack nodded, "True. I don't know what, how Luffy can do that thing." Kate looked at him weirdly but Jack continued, "His power is unreal."

"You're telling me," Nami joked and looked back at the man lying by the now empty fire. The flames were dying down as there weren't a lot of people around anymore to toss more wood on top.

Usopp was sitting with the ones who had stayed: Hurley, Charlie, and the pregnant girl Claire, answering a few of their questions about where they came from. Nami wasn't in the mood to have to answer a bunch of questions though. As Jack and Kate walked away, she went over and sat down next to Zoro.

The two of them were looking ahead at the fire and the teen lying next to it. "Ahhh," Nami sighed. "I wonder how long we're going to be here."

It was more a statement than anything, but Zoro responded anyway. "Rescue probably isn't coming like most of them think."

Nami nodded, thinking about the strange French message Usopp told them about that he heard over their radio. Zoro leaned back, "Not that it affects us anyway. We just won't be able to take one of their rescue boats now."

Nami punched him on top of the head and he growled, yelling at her. "No talking like that," Nami scolded him. "If we're stuck here with the survivors, I want to be friends with them. Talking about stealing their rescue ships isn't going to make us any allies." She smiled and whispered an addition to what she was saying, "Think it, don't say it."

Zoro smirked and then started laughing. "You're evil you know that?"

Nami grinned innocently, "Really?" The two of them laughed a little more and stared back at the fire together. She thought about earlier that day when they heard someone was drowning out in the water, how Zoro ran out and dove into the water without a moment's hesitation. "Hey Zoro," she whispered without turning to the man. He didn't turn to her either, or respond, he just listened. "I've never, slept peacefully, when I've been on pirate crews. Even on this one," she whispered and then paused as Usopp made the group of three start cracking up on the left side of the fire. Nami smiled a little and continued, "but I want that to change. Truth is, I hate pirates, but I want to trust you guys. Can I..."

"Nami," Zoro interrupted. She looked at him, while the swordsman kept staring ahead at the fire. "You can sleep now. No one will hurt you." He heard something in the normally strong girl's voice that really surprised him, he heard fear.

She stared at him in surprise for a few seconds. What he was really saying was, _I will protect you,_ he just wasn't mushy enough to say those words out loud. "Thank you," she whispered to the man who saved her life not that long ago.

Zoro continued to watch his captain, but after a few more minutes, he felt something resting on his left shoulder. His irises darted to the left corners of his eyes and he stared at the woman's head leaning on him. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling, deep asleep.

 **A/N Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review below telling me what you think! See ya soon with the next update!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

"Hey are you alright?" Usopp asked as he jogged towards the man stumbling towards him in the forest. He could barely recognize Boone under all the blood on the young man's face.

As he reached the guy who was only a few years older than himself, Boone stumbled and fell forward. "I got you," Usopp held out his arms and then fell backwards since he couldn't hold Boone's weight.

"Come on," Usopp muttered as he lifted up to his feet and threw one of Boone's arms over his shoulder. "Here we go," the sharpshooter struggled to help him, but they did manage to stagger their way back to the caves.

The pirates had vacated the beach and moved to the caves with Jack for the time being. It made sense with the water being here and all, now they didn't have to carry it back and forth to the beach. However, half the group of survivors were still back on the beach, not willing to give up hope on a ship passing them by.

"Help, someone help," Usopp called out as he stumbled into the area between all the caves.

Hurley looked over from where he was filling up water bottles and his eyes went wide. "Jack!" He shouted and ran over, helping Usopp carry Boone the rest of the way up to Jack's new medical station.

"What happened?" Jack asked Boone as the boy was laid down in front of him. "Who did this?"

Boone looked at Jack and rasped out, "Sawyer."

* * *

Boone was sitting up with his back against a rock. Jack and Zoro were sitting in front of him, with the doctor dabbing Boone's wounds with peroxide to keep them from getting infected. "Sawyer did this huh?" Zoro inspected the wounds and it looked like Boone got quite the ass-beating.

"Why'd he do that?" Jack asked.

Boone took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. Shannon was sitting a little bit away and she looked uncomfortable at the moment. "Shannon has breathing problems. She uses an inhaler, but it ran out."

"I've never seen her have a problem before," Jack said confused.

"She sneaks away to use it, she's been embarrassed about it since she was a kid. I guess breathing isn't cool." Boone chuckled and then coughed in pain and got back to the point. "Today her breathing got bad, really bad. I'm afraid of what's gonna happen if she has an attack out here."

"I still don't see what this has to do with Sawyer," Jack began.

As Boone explained how Sawyer had a book from their luggage, which meant he had the extra inhalers, Zoro turned around and saw Charlie coming out of the woods covered in sweat. Locke came out behind him carrying a large boar he just caught and killed.

"Meat!" Luffy exclaimed as he followed his nose outside his cave. He took one look at the bloody boar and his mouth started watering. "Give me a piece."

"Let them cook it first!" Nami shouted as she hit her captain on top of his head and he slammed into the ground.

"Don't worry," Jack told Boone. Zoro looked back away from his crewmates who were going about their business as usual. He turned and stared at the doctor who continued, "I'll get the inhalers."

* * *

"Hey Jack," Luffy said to the doctor as Jack walked into the cave Luffy was busy exploring. "Whatcha doin?"

"Moving some of the supplies from outside in here, figure it'll be safer this way," Jack was trying to get his mind off of Sawyer who'd been pissing him off all morning by not giving up the inhalers. He demanded them at the beach earlier, but Kate stepped in and stopped him from kicking Sawyer's ass.

Suddenly someone started shouting behind the two, "You know, you're not the only one who can do things around here!" Both men inside the cave turned to see Charlie storming in and yelling.

"What?" Jack asked.

"A lot of people look up to me, but you treat me like I'm a bloody joke!" Charlie yelled. Hurley just told him to move his guitar because Jack said it was in the way, and he finally snapped.

"Are you okay?" Luffy asked the man who was normally a funny guy to be around. Charlie's skin was a paler shade than usual and he was drenched with sweat.

"Charlie calm down, just tell me what's going on and I'll-" Jack couldn't finish as Charlie started shouting again.

"Stop treating me like I'm a child. 'Charlie can't help,' 'Charlie's just in the way...'"

"Calm down Charlie and we'll talk about this," Jack said and took a step towards the other man. Luffy was watching interestedly from farther in the cave, and he felt a small tremor below him.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Charlie yelled. "I'm a bloody rock God!" He screamed and then everyone in the cave felt the ground shake below them. The ceiling started to crumble and it felt like an earthquake.

"Crap!" Luffy saw a huge chunk of rock fall next to him and he saw what was happening. Jack yelled for them to run, but it was too late.

"Gum Gum," Luffy threw both of his arms forward. "Push Pull!" His right arm held out a palm and slammed into Charlie's chest as the rockstar was closer to the door of the cave. His other arm wrapped around Jack since he was too far back in the cave to push, and he pulled the doctor back towards him where he lay on top of Jack and let the rocks fall on him instead.

Charlie tumbled out of the front of the cave and coughed up piles of dust. His whole body was covered in black from the cave in. "Charlie! Charlie where's Jack?" Hurley asked loudly, but Charlie could only cough. "Where's Jack?!"

Charlie kept coughing, but he lifted an arm and pointed back at the cave he just fell out of. Everyone outside the cave started shouting Jack's name over and over. "Come on man, answer me," Hurley called in and everyone stayed quiet to listen for a response.

"I'm okay," they heard someone's muffled shout from inside, followed by a chorus of coughs similar to Charlie's. Speaking of whom, was staggering off into the woods at that very moment, looking for the bald hunter who had his drugs. "Charlie was in here with us."

"He made it out," Hurley shouted back at the wall of broken rocks. "Wait, us? Who else is in there?"

"I am!" Luffy yelled, surprising a lot of people outside. A few of them looked at each other nervously, not trusting the people who said they weren't on the plane one bit. Their whole story about being pirates sounded unbelievable, so most of them figured they were hiding something.

"Luffy?!" Usopp shouted at the cave.

"Don't worry, I'll get us out in no time," Luffy said to the man next to him. Both were hunched over since there wasn't a lot of room inside the cave. "Gum Gum," he threw both his arms behind him to start a Gattling Gun, but as soon as his extended fist hit the back wall, a huge chunk of rock fell from the ceiling and landed on his foot. "Ouch!" His arms flew back forward and he slammed into the ground hard.

"We can't get out!" Jack shouted out at the people outside the cave. If Luffy moved around any more he'd wind up causing the cave to collapse completely on them. The doctor started coughing again and he knew there wasn't much oxygen in there between the two of them so he couldn't keep shouting like this.

"Don't worry guys, we'll get you out of there!" Hurley shouted again and then looked back at everyone behind him. "How are we going to get them out?"

"I'll go to the beach and tell some of the guys to come help move rocks," Usopp suggested and then started running off before anyone could say anything.

Hurley started getting everyone else to start moving rocks, but he remembered something and turned to shout at Usopp who was running away extremely fast. "And tell Kate!"

The long nosed man sprinted the trail from the caves to the beach. It took Usopp less time than most people to run to the shore. He was used to running all over his village shouting about imaginary pirates and had to run away from an angry mob whenever he did. He was very fast, and unlike his also fast captain and swordsman, he didn't have problems staying on the trail.

"There's been a cave-in! Jack and Luffy got caught and we need people to help get them out!" Usopp shouted as he ran out of the trees.

A group of people gathered around the man with the long nose as he explained what happened again. Michael grabbed Scott and Steve and started running back for the caves.

"Zoro, aren't you coming?" Usopp asked the swordsman who turned to go back to what he was doing.

"Luffy can handle himself," the man said, positive in his decision. He started walking back towards their old shelter where someone else had taken residence. "I have something else to do."

Sayid saw where Zoro was walking and he followed the man with green hair. "Are you going after Sawyer?" Zoro didn't respond, but that was all the Arab man needed to know. "And what will you do if he doesn't give them to you."

"I'll make him," Zoro responded.

"Not you, me" Sayid stated.

"You?" Zoro asked without turning to the man walking next to him.

"Yes," Sayid said and stopped walking for a second, making Zoro stop and look at him. "During my communications training in the military, I learned how to make people communicate. Ten minutes with him and I'll have the inhalers." Sayid didn't trust the pirates, but he could work with this man now if it would help save Shannon's life.

The two men agreed and continued walking towards Sawyer's home. Meanwhile, Kate was sitting on the sand down the beach looking out over the water. She was thinking about what Sawyer told her after she asked for the inhalers and how he demanded a kiss. That letter in his pocket, the one he got because he took a child's parents away, it was horrible, but for some reason she still didn't buy the act.

She was still sitting there in the sand when she heard the shouting and turned around. Zoro was holding Sawyer up in a full nelson, carrying him a foot above the ground towards the jungle. The redneck was struggling, but Zoro didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. Sayid was following behind them and she didn't like the look of this.

"What are you doing?" She asked them. "Sayid! Zoro!"

"He's forced our hands," Sayid said. Kate started shouting at the men, but nothing was stopping them as they walked into the woods.

* * *

At that very moment at the caves, Shannon was starting to have an asthma attack. The people who just arrived to help get Jack out were now distracted by the tall blonde girl who couldn't take a breath. No one at the beach knew this was happening however, they thought they still had some time.

"Shannon! Shannon!"

Jack could hear the panicking shouts from where he was trapped inside the cave and he yelled questions, trying to figure out what was going on out there. Unfortunately no one could hear him over the panic of Shannon's breathing problem. He knew he was wasting breath and since they only had a limited amount of air in here he stopped. The man dropped to the ground to sit next to an oddly calm Luffy.

"Come on Shannon, breathe," Boone was begging her on the outside of the cave, but her breaths were coming out short and staggered if they came out at all.

Michael knew what their best chance was and he shouted for everyone to get back to work on getting Jack out of the cave. The doctor would know what to do, or at least that's what they all hoped.

* * *

"Ahh, that was a nice bath," Nami stepped out of the water and grabbed her towel, shaking off the sand and drying herself off.

She was pretty far down from the main beach so that she could bathe properly. As she slid back into the bikini she was wearing before, she heard a noise coming from the woods behind her. It sounded like a scream and she felt herself jump in fright.

"AHHHHH!" Whoever it was, was in a lot of pain. She grimaced and then started running towards the tree line in her sandals. She grabbed the stick she had on her to use as a staff and held it right in her hands as she got closer to the screams.

When she got close, she slowed down and peeked through the trees. What she saw almost made her throw up and she sprinted out into the clearing. "What are you doing?!" She yelled at Sayid and her swordsman friend who was just watching as the Arab tortured Sawyer.

"Get out of here Nami," Zoro warned as Sayid stuck another sharp piece of bamboo between the blonde man's finger and his fingernail. Sawyer screamed and screamed and Nami started running forward.

Zoro grabbed her by the arm, "This has to be done," he said. Sayid stopped for a second and the screaming man started panting hard. Zoro got down on a knee in front of him and looked into Sawyer's eyes, completely calm. "Where is the medicine."

"Oh don't stop now, I think my sinuses are finally clearing up." Sawyer chuckled and this time it was Zoro's turn to be unnerved. The swordsman asked, "Why won't you just give it to us? Do you have something against Shannon?"

Sawyer's smile went away for a second, but Sayid didn't care and grabbed a knife from his waist that he got from Locke for this reason. "Maybe losing an eye will loosen his tongue!" He pressed the blade against the man's face and a trickle of blood started coming down as he dug in.

"Wait, wait!" Sawyer shouted. Just like Zoro, he'd seen how serious Sayid was about taking out his eye, and he didn't want that to happen. "I'll talk," he panted as Sayid moved the knife away. "But the only one I'll tell, is Kate."

* * *

"He doesn't have it," Kate walked out of the woods and wiped her lips after the disgusting man made her kiss him to find out what they wanted to know.

"He's lying," Sayid said with a snarl. The Arab was about to charge back there, but Zoro grabbed him by the arm. Sayid looked way too angry to make a rational decision right now.

"He found Boone's book washed up on the beach," Kate explained. "He doesn't have the inhalers, he never did."

Sayid stopped and thought about it for a second. There was no reason why Sawyer would still keep it from them when his eye was on the line. "But then why did he..."

"I don't know," Kate said and shook her head walking back through the woods, "but he doesn't have it."

Sayid fell to his knees, staring off into the distance. Nami could see the pain in the black haired man's eyes. He'd just tortured a man, another human being, for no reason. It made sense that he'd be ashamed in himself.

"Kate! There you are!" Usopp ran through the trees and the group turned to him. "Jack and Luffy got caught in a cave in. They're trapped."

"What?!" Nami and Kate shouted at the same time. Zoro grunted and mumbled something about Luffy taking too long to get out, but the women didn't hear him. The two of them started running through the jungle together, right past a slightly tired Usopp who wasn't moving fast enough for them. Both of them thought at the same time, _Don't you die on me._

* * *

"Charlie?" Luffy wondered as the rockstar climbed into the cave. The small hole Charlie climbed through collapsed behind him a second after he made it in and the young short blonde haired man was coughing a lot as dust filled his lungs.

The others on the outside shouted in at the hole they dug that had just collapsed. It didn't look good and now instead of two of them, it looked like they lost three.

Charlie lifted up to his feet and grinned at the two in front of him, "I'm here to rescue you." Luffy started laughing and Jack chuckled too before coughing himself.

"I'm afraid with three of us in here, we won't be able to last much longer," Jack told them.

"Why not?" Luffy wondered.

"Our oxygen is going to run out," Jack said and Luffy nodded, still not really getting it. "We won't be able to breathe," he explained in simplest terms.

"Oh, that's bad," Luffy said and the other two couldn't help but smile, even in the dire situation.

The three of them sat in there for a while. Their breathing got worse, and they had no idea what was happening outside during their time trapped in there. They had no idea that Sun created an herbal remedy that helped calm down Shannon and worked like an inhaler. They didn't know that Kate had arrived with Nami and the two women were now leading efforts on clearing the cave-in to save them.

Luffy offered to attempt to punch his way out of there, but they told him to wait until it was absolutely necessary since they wouldn't survive another cave-in on top of this one.

"How long has it been since your last fix?" Jack asked Charlie as the rockstar twitched and brushed away more sweat on his face.

There was no longer any reason for Charlie to keep lying. "A day and a half," the rockstar said.

"How's the detox treating you?" Jack continued, but then Luffy cut in and asked what they were talking about.

"My drugs," Charlie told Luffy, then reminded the skinny pirate about the bag he caught him with during the campfire a few nights ago.

"Those were drugs?" Luffy asked. The pirate suddenly had a far-off look on his face and Charlie told him it was called heroin. "Oh," the teen whispered and looked up at the ceiling, "never heard of it." The pirate had his straw hat tied on his neck so that it was hanging on his back. He looked down into Charlie's eyes and he instantly noticed, wondering how he didn't see it before.

Luffy started speaking, "Back on my home island, there was a place called the Grey Terminal. There was a drug there too," he paused and frowned as he remembered a funny man in the Terminal who was always such a great storyteller. At least he was until that day he tried robbing the two brothers when they were twelve and fifteen years old. Ace had explained to his younger brother why the guy was acting so nuts when he attacked, and now Luffy told the men in front of him, "it was called Jump." He stopped talking and the other two were staring at him confused.

Both Jack and Charlie stared at Luffy for a few seconds and the rockstar remembered something as he thought about how weird it was that Luffy had never heard of heroin. The heroin addict whispered, "Back at the feast, you called our plane a 'metal bird thingy.' Have you never heard of a plane before?"

Luffy shook his head and said, "I didn't know there were ships that could fly. I really want one now before I head to the Grand Line."

"The Grand Line?" Jack asked, considering they didn't have anything else to do except waste oxygen and await death or rescue.

Now it was Luffy's turn to be confused. "You don't know what the Grand Line is? You must be stupid." This was something Nami and Usopp had realized a while back, but had avoided talking about because it confused them enough that they were scared to think about it. "Where in East Blue are you from?"

"East Blue?" Charlie asked and Luffy's eyes went wide. "We're in the Pacific Ocean."

"No we're not," Luffy countered, confused by what was going on. "Actually, I don't know where we are," he stated and looked up at the ceiling. "The second I saw this island, I knew there was something weird about it. Then it started shaking like crazy and your ship ripped in half."

Jack interrupted the kid, "The island was shaking? Like an earthquake?"

"I don't know," Luffy replied. "It didn't seem natural, and I got a really bad feeling from it." The pirate saw something in the air and he started waving around his arms which was ignored by the other two who were thinking about what he said. He was smiling and chuckled, "You know, you guys are pretty cool," the pirate said as he sat back down. "You should join my crew. I need a musician," he looked at a surprised Charlie, "and a doctor would be good too I guess." He turned to Jack who was slowly shaking his head at the ridiculous proposal.

He was playing with something in his hands and Charlie suddenly noticed what Luffy was playing with. "Is that- is that a moth?!" Charlie asked as he jumped up and stared at the little creature flying around that Luffy had trapped. "Let it go," he said and the pirate moved his hands down, confused at what Charlie was getting at.

"What about it?" Jack asked the oddly enthusiastic younger man.

Charlie followed the moth as it flew up to a different part of the cave and up into a small tunnel. He reached his hand up and dirt started falling around him, but the earth layer above him was nowhere near as solid as everywhere else. He started climbing up and the other two realized what he was doing, following him with wide smiles on their faces.

* * *

"Come on! Keep going! Put your backs into it!" Nami was waving her arms around and everyone else was covered in sweat. The woman was acting like a slavedriver and they were all exhausted, but the tunnel was getting farther and farther.

Kate was doing the opposite of the girl she arrived with and was the farthest in the path, digging out the rocks and passing them back for others to move away. The large silent black man from the tail section was standing next to her and was moving rocks three times the size of the max she could carry.

Usopp was next to Kate on the other side and dragging out rocks half the size of the ones Kate was getting. The embarrassment was real, but he was more concerned with helping out his captain than his own pride at the moment.

Walt was standing with his dog back in the center area between all the caves. He was tossing a tennis ball to his dog, but at the sight in front of him he dropped the ball and pointed. "Hey look, it's the doctor."

What he said took a second to process in everyone's minds and they all stopped working. The group turned and ran out to where Walt was pointing and they watched as Jack, Luffy, and Charlie walked out from behind another cave, all three covered in dirt from head to toe.

"Jack!"

"Charlie!"

"Luffy!"

"How did you guys get out?" Hurley asked as he walked over to them.

"Charlie got us out," Jack said and looked at the man who shied away from taking the credit very humbly. Hurley wasn't going to let him avoid it though and he jogged over, lifting him in a big hug.

"That was fun," Luffy laughed, "Shishishi!"

"Baka!" Nami ran over and punched Luffy in the face, knocking the teen off his feet and several feet backwards where he hit the ground. Everyone celebrating the return of those three went wide-eyed and stared at the scrawny girl who apparently packed a punch. They were going to stop her from beating him up, but she continued yelling, "Don't say that was fun! You could have gotten killed!"

"If she's so concerned about him, why'd she punch him?" Walt asked his dad who just shook his head, still not understanding these pirates at all. Michael walked over to Charlie and patted him on the shoulder, telling him he did a good job crawling in and getting them out of there okay.

* * *

Kate was standing on the beach talking to Nami as the sun started to set. Charlie and Luffy were in the shallow water since the neither of them could swim, and they were washing off the dirt covering their bodies. Jack was somewhere else, but the two women were distracted from their conversation as a man walked past them.

They were at the end of the beach area, so there wasn't anywhere this man could be heading, especially with a heavy backpack on. "Sayid, where are you going?" Kate asked the Arab man who stopped and turned around.

"I'm leaving," he said and the other two went wide-eyed.

"But, that thing out there," Nami started. "And the Others..."

"I have bigger things to worry about than what lurks in the forest," he said shamefully. "What I did today, what I was willing to do, I swore to never do again. I'm going to look for the source of the French transmission." He looked up at the ladies in front of him and smiled, "I hope we meet again." He held out his hands and they reached out theirs. Instead of shaking, he grabbed their hands and gave them each a small kiss on the backs of their hands.

"Sayid," Kate whispered, but the man let go and turned around. He started walking down the beach as the sun set, and she had a bad feeling that she might not see him again.

"Don't worry about him," Zoro said as he walked past the two ladies. He was going for a swim to train and he heard a little of what Sayid said. "He's a soldier, he can handle himself out there." The swordsman remembered the injuries Luffy came out of the forest with and he doubted what he was saying was true, but he believed in Sayid and what he was doing.

"He's doing this because of what you did," Nami scolded her friend.

"Yeah," Zoro responded. His mind kept wandering back to the torture earlier, despite what he told himself he didn't care about. It was weird, he couldn't figure out what Sawyer wanted. The long blonde haired man was a mystery; Zoro drank with the guy at the feast, and he was annoyed he had to torture the guy to figure out where the medicine was, only for the medicine to not be his, and not be necessary in the end anyway. _What's wrong with you, Sawyer?_

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 'Till next time!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

"Whoa, what is this place?" Nami stated as she walked between two trees. She had a towel around her neck and was heading back to the caves when she stumbled upon this small clearing.

The orange haired teen in a bikini looked around and spotted a woman sitting down and staring at her nervously. It was the lady who didn't speak English who the others said only spoke Korean. "Oh, hi," Nami said to the woman. The girl looked around at the opening and stared at the lines on the ground that were dug up.

Sun stared at this pirate girl with wide eyes, but then Nami turned to her and asked, "You made all this?" There was a garden in front of her that looked like it had just been planted. Sun was holding a can full of water and Nami put two and two together.

The Korean lady looked like she understood the question and nodded. She pointed around at it all and then put her fingers to her mouth as if saying they would be able to eat what was inside. "Yeah, food, I understand," Nami assured the woman. She didn't have much to do after her midday swim so she motioned around, "Mind if I help?"

Sun stared at Nami as Nami put the towel down below her and kneeled on it, putting her hands on the ground and motioning around showing she wanted to help. _This woman was not on the plane, but, she's just a teenager._ Still pretending like she didn't understand at first, Sun made a face like she finally comprehended what Nami was saying and nodded.

The orange haired girl sat down and Sun pulled out some seeds she found that would be able to grow edible plants. One of the plants Sun held up when pointing at the seeds was recognizable to the young navigator and Nami's eyes went wide. "That's the stuff you used to help Shannon's asthma. Wow, so we can grow this stuff? That's amazing."

Sun just kept nodding at the girl but smiled internally at the praise for her idea. She continued planting and the girl next to her started doing the same, but then Nami started talking. "You know," the teenager started as she looked up at Sun, "you can't understand a thing I'm saying right?" Sun kept smiling at her blankly and Nami chuckled to herself, looking back down at the dirt and turning away as she kept planting seeds. "Didn't think so."

The pirate girl took a deep breath and then fell back on her butt. There was so much she wanted to say, wanted to tell someone, but she couldn't completely trust the pirates. No matter how safe they made her feel, they were still pirates, and pirates killed her mother. She couldn't lie and say she hated them any longer, but there was so much she wanted to get off her chest but couldn't tell any of the people on this island who didn't understand anything about her world.

 _My world, is that what I'm calling it now? Australia, planes, Los Angeles, I learned a long time ago that either everyone here is completely insane, I'm insane, or we are no longer in East Blue._ She looked back at the woman planting seeds behind her and stated, "I'm not from your world." Sun looked up with a look of confusion, but Nami took it as the woman not understanding the words coming out of her mouth instead of the actual statement that Sun was confused about. "It's okay, I know you won't understand a thing I say, so that's what makes it so much easier to talk to you."

The orange haired woman looked back down at the garden and placed one of the seeds Sun gave her into a hole she dug. As she covered it back up with dirt, she continued, "When your plane fell out of the sky, I was terrified. The boys on our crew, they were surprised, and I know Usopp was scared for a little bit, but they're all monsters. They got over it so fast. While Usopp went around getting to know everyone, I sat with Luffy and Zoro. Since they were unconcsious, all I could do was think, by myself."

Sun kept staring at this girl now and felt bad for her. _It must have been hard._ Sun thought that now, but then Nami continued and Sun kept staring at her back the entire time. Sun's eyes widened at what Nami started telling her, about everything. The Korean woman wanted to laugh, and cry, and hug this teenage girl who went on about crazy adventures she'd had over the years. They almost all involved horrible pirates who killed, raped, did everything pirates were known to do, and how she always wound up stealing from them and felt great doing so. The ends of those stories were the only parts Sun wanted to laugh at, but couldn't because it would show she understood the teenage girl.

Nami's tone shifted from the angry tone she had when talking about how much she hated pirates. It turned a lot sadder and she whispered, "I-I just needed that money. If I don't get 100,000,000, well," she didn't want to say it out loud, but this woman wouldn't understand anyway, "Arlong has everyone enslaved, and they'll stay like that until I have that money to buy the town." She got even quieter, "That's why I need to get off this island. I've been gone for long stretches of time before, but, but if Arlong thinks I ran... he's going to kill everyone."

The girl looked up and saw the shocked expression on Sun's face. Nami's face turned to shock as well, and then Sun immediately turned away and continued planting. "Y-You understood me," Nami stated and jumped up to her feet. "Wh-Why didn't you say something? Why are you lying?!"

Sun looked up and tried to feign a confused look, but Nami was glaring down at her with a hurt expression. She'd just told her deepest secrets to a random woman who lied by not telling her she could understand before she vented to her. "Please, don't tell anyone-"

"I wouldn't have if you had just told me," Nami said to her, tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe she was so stupid. _I can't trust anyone! They're all lying to me! Zoro and Luffy might seem nice now, but if they heard I was only there to steal all their treasure..._ The Korean woman jumped up and wrapped her arms around Nami. "What, what are you doing?" Nami asked the woman angrily.

"It's okay," Sun whispered to the younger woman. "You're alright," she rubbed the back of the teen girl's head, putting her hand through Nami's short orange hair and petting her in a very soothing way. "I will not tell anyone, and I am sorry for lying to you," Sun held the trembling girl where she stood. Nami had never stopped shaking once through the whole time she was yelling at Sun.

Nami's thoughts about the other members of her crew changed, _If Luffy and Zoro did learn about me trying to steal their treasure... they would try to help me. But they would get killed doing so. Nothing can stop Arlong. He'll kill them._ Sun felt Nami start shaking worse than she had the whole time. The Asian woman didn't know what was wrong with her, as most of what Nami said the woman figured she must have misunderstood in her newly learned language. She did know the girl was afraid though, and that's all she needed to know to hold her tighter.

"Thank you Sun," Nami whispered to the woman when she finally pulled away. _I can't let them get caught up in this. Arlong will kill them if they try to help me!_ "I'm heading back to the caves. I'll, see you later, okay? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you can speak English." With that, Nami ran off without another word and Sun stared after the orange haired girl sadly.

Nami ran through the woods for a little and she calmed down her breathing. She slowed into a quick jog and finally a small smile spread on her face. _I have to leave them as soon as we're off the island. So for now, I'll enjoy every last second I'm still with them._

 **A/N Yeah, short chapter, but the next one makes up for it by being pretty long. Hope you enjoyed Nami's little breakdown as she panics about Arlong and being trapped on this island and the whole being in a different world thing. XD**

raffmeiste

ahh, and the tensions grow. it could be fun to see other op characters, but that would change the balance of the story up until now. it's really fun experiencing a lot of the best from both shows. keep writing!

 **Thanks for the reviews! Yea I figured any further into the timeline for Straw Hats and it would have been overwhelming for the LOST characters, especially if Chopper was there haha. Glad you're enjoying the chapter, and next time it gets intense!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

"Sayid!" Nami exclaimed as she watched the man stumble into the caves. She was getting water and stood up fast next to Jack and Kate who both spun around to see what she was shouting about. They saw that Sayid really was there and ran across the caves, meeting him in the center where he collapsed.

"Listen to me," he said as he fell forward. Jack and Kate got on either side and caught him while Nami ran right up and looked down at him in surprise, not expecting to see him back here so soon.

It was almost a full week since Sayid left, and they were still stuck on this island. It wasn't so bad anymore though, Luffy and Zoro were mostly healed and Hurley made a golf course so everyone could calm their nerves. In fact, the general vibe of the survivors had gotten a lot more pleasant, except for the fact that Claire kept waking up with nightmares and hallucinating about people attacking her. At least that was how Jack described what she was seeing, and most people liked the doctor's explanation better than the idea that those mystery people on the island were actually attacking them.

"I found-" Sayid stuttered and Nami handed her water to him, allowing the man to down it fast and then speak quicker without being so parched. "I found the French woman! The woman on the distress call, I had to come back," he panted some more and downed more of the water. "I had to come back," he looked into Jack's eyes as the doctor started wrapping up Sayid's injured leg. Sayid spoke in the clearest voice he had the whole time, "I saw them."

Jack's eyes went wide. "Where are they? Which direction did you see them?"

Usopp and Luffy were laughing and coming out of the woods when the long nosed man saw Sayid hunched over in the middle of the caves. The two of them ran over and they heard what the conversation going on was, making the sharpshooter shiver in fear thinking about the mystery island people.

Luffy lifted his head and saw Hurley running around one of the caves. He was surprised to see the fat guy running faster than he'd ever seen him run so far. "Guys, we have a problem!" Hurley sat down next to Jack who was treating Sayid's leg. "Jack, the manifest. The census, the names of everyone who survived, all sixty four of us, I put the pirates separately. I interviewed everyone. Here, at the beach, got their names. One of 'em, one of them wasn't... Jack!"

The doctor wasn't paying much attention since he needed to treat Sayid's wound quickly. It was already starting to get infected and if he didn't treat it now it would get much worse. Nami had a sense of dread forming inside her similar to Usopp's while Kate, Luffy, and Locke were all staring at Hurley just like Jack was now, waiting to hear what was so important that it couldn't wait.

"One of them isn't in the manifest," Hurley said, "he wasn't on the plane."

Everyone stared at Hurley and most of them knew exactly what that meant.

* * *

"Hello there." A voice said and Charlie and Claire looked up to see a tall man standing next to a tree in front of them.

"Ethan, where's Jack?" Charlie asked, having sent the other survivor to go get the doctor when Claire started having contractions. She wasn't anymore, but she was staring at the strange man with intense fear in her eyes. Charlie saw the look on Ethan's face too and he put his arm around Claire. "Ethan what are you..."

The man started walking forward. His strides looked so casual, yet they were so long that he closed the distance between them in a matter of three seconds. Charlie jumped in front of Claire and pulled back a fist to punch the man, but he grabbed the rockstar's fist as he punched. "Charlie!" Claire screamed.

Ethan twisted the man's arm so that Charlie was forced to turn around and then he reached around with his other arm putting it under Charlie's neck, suffocating him. Claire ran forward and started punching weakly at the strong man who knocked Charlie out and then swung the back of his right hand at Claire, knocking her out with the hit too. He made sure to catch the girl before she hit the ground and could harm the baby.

The tall man looked down at the two of them and pulled vines out of his pockets. _Time to go,_ he reached down and started binding their hands and feet. He gagged them and put blindfolds on them, before taking out two needles and sticking it in both of their arms. _Forget._

* * *

Kate was shouting at Hurley, "Are you sure? Who wasn't on the plane?"

"Ethan! The Canadian guy," Hurley held out the manifest and shouted about how he wasn't on there again.

"What?!" Usopp exclaimed. He'd talked to that guy a lot, the guy said he was on the plane and he didn't look like he was lying at all. The liar was stunned it got past him. He was a master of lying so that must have meant this man was even better.

Jack stood up and looked around the cave as a lot of people were looking towards him. "Has anyone seen Ethan?!"

Michael was walking by and he ran forward, "Yeah yeah, he took off to get some wood. He went down the path to the beach, is everything okay? What happened?" While Michael was asking his questions, Jack was looking around and he realized something.

"Where's Charlie?" the doctor asked.

Locke was standing near them and he stated, "He went after Claire."

Nami reached down and grabbed the three pieces of wood she had strapped to her thigh, whipping them out and connecting them. "Claire really was attacked!" The woman shouted and turned angrily to Jack, "You told her she was imagining things!" She stopped herself from yelling the next sentence as she saw how much guilt covered Jack's face.

"We can't argue about this now!" Kate shouted and started sprinting for the path. The others started chasing after her and running back down the path to the beach.

Luffy stopped smiling and tried to figure out what was going on. He ran next to Usopp as they chased everyone down the path. "What's the big deal about them not being on the plane?"

"If they weren't on the plane, that means they're Others," Usopp said nervously and Luffy scratched his head, forgetting who they were again. The man with the long nose groaned as he kept running and then said it in simply, "The bad guys who kidnapped the survivors."

"Ohh," the rubber pirate said and punched his fists together as he ran. "Shishishi," he chuckled and Jack turned, asking him angrily if he thought this was funny. Luffy shook his head no and then said, "Zoro's just going to be mad he missed out on the chase."

* * *

Kate stopped running and the rest of them halted behind her. They wondered why they weren't still running down the beach trail, but then Locke saw it and was surprised the girl saw it too. The bald man drew his knife and moved through the bushes, "Look," he pointed with the blade at a bag lying under a tree,

"It's Claire's," Jack said and ran his hand through his hair. What he told her about the attack being fake made her leave the caves, and now she was gone. "She was moving back to the beach."

"Jack it's not..." Kate grabbed his arm but he shook her off.

"I didn't believe her!" the man said angrily. He punched the tree, "She told me she was in danger, and I just, I didn't believe her. What happened?!" he spun to Locke and asked.

"Three distinct sets of footprints, it looks like there might have been a struggle," Locke pointed around at the different tracks on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm sure Charlie fought him off," Usopp said with a dark chuckle. _Or at least he tried._

Locke looked over and continued, "Drag marks, here and here." Jack added that Ethan must have gotten Claire _and_ Charlie and the long nosed sniper gulped, wondering how that man could have dragged them both into the woods.

"Which way did they go?" Jack asked and Locke started looking down the trail to follow it. What they heard from the people in the tail section was that these people didn't leave a trail, but a man dragging two others through the woods would have to.

"Claire!" Jack yelled.

"Charlie!" Luffy shouted too.

Locke turned to the two of them and called their names, "Jack, Luffy!" The two of them looked his way and the other three wondered what Locke was doing. The bald man lifted up a finger in front of his mouth, "Shhh."

"Why are we being quiet?" Usopp whispered, not wanting to piss off the crazy hunter holding a knife by speaking any louder than he should.

"This doesn't make sense," Jack muttered. "One man dragging away two people, one of them pregnant?"

"Doesn't seem that hard," Luffy said and the others ignored the ridiculously strong teenager.

"We can't account for all of our people, and who's to even say their our people?" Locke asked, angering Jack who didn't understand.

"You're saying he might have accomplices?" Nami asked the bald man, gripping her staff tight and wondering if she was actually cut out for this. "But why grab Claire? Why Charlie?"

"I don't know," the bald man said. "We should head back to camp, prepare. We don't know what's going on here. We can get together-"

Before Jack could interrupt the man, Luffy shouted, "Let's go!"

"He's right John," Kate said. "we have to catch up to him before they get too far. The tracks are still fresh, I'd say he isn't ten minutes ahead of us."

The others looked up at Kate and Locke tilted his head with a pleasantly surprised look on his face. "You're a tracker too?" Usopp asked with wide-eyes.

"Great," John said and rubbed the top of his head. He looked around at the small group around them and didn't know whether or not this was the right call. Suddenly the bushes started to rustle behind them and he rose his knife. Luffy rose his fist and Usopp pulled out his slingshot. Jack stood in front of the group and was covered in sweat, angry at himself and whoever was about to barge through the trees.

"Hey, glad we caught up with you guys," Michael said as he came out from behind the bushes.

"Figured you could use some help," Boone said as he came out too. The young man in the muscle shirt held up a metal case and said, "You left this at the caves, figured you might need it."

Locke grinned at the kid and took his case from him, popping it open. "Alright, take a knife, and let's go."

"Wait, I've got a lot of guys back at the caves who don't want to just sit around and do nothing," Michael started.

"We're leaving right now," Jack told the black man. Locke held out a knife for Michael to grab and Jack asked him, "You coming?"

"Hell yeah," Michael grabbed it and slid it into his belt.

The group prepared themselves quickly and were glad Michael and Boone brought some water bottles too which was the other thing John was worried about and wanted to go back to the caves for. "Lead the way," Jack said impatiently to Locke who was still sitting down next to the case.

The bald man took a few more seconds to hide the case under a bush and then he stood up. He made eye contact with the doctor who was impatiently pacing and stated, "Jack you should go back to the caves, treat Sayid's leg."

"I dressed Sayid's leg," the doctor growled, angry that John was wasting more time.

"Listen, this is my fault," Locke said and everyone turned to the bald man. "I hunted with Ethan. I spent the most time with him. But for all I know about hunting and tracking, he knows more. If we meet up with him, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained physician on the island, so go back." He was begging the man, "Be the doctor, let me be the hunter."

Jack waited until he was done and then asked, "Can we go now?" Kate stared at the doctor who looked like he was really blaming himself for this. She knew how he felt and wished she had been with Claire when this guy showed up for them.

John sighed and started jogging after the two drag marks and had to continue darting his eyes around to look for the trail through the woods.

"You two," Nami said and held back her two nakama for a second while the others ran ahead. She did not like the description John just made of who this Ethan guy was and she trusted these two enough to put them in charge. "You better bring Claire and Charlie back."

"You got it," Luffy said and grabbed Usopp by the arm before chasing the others back through the woods. Nami relaxed and lowered her staff; she knew she would just slow them down if she followed them, and she was scared of running into the woods after seeing what happened to her captain on the second day here.

 _I'll go tell Zoro,_ she decided and started running down the trail back to the beach.

* * *

"You're taking a break?" Jack asked John. The doctor had an angry look on his face and he was walking up to John as Boone tied another red marker around a tree to mark their progress.

"I need to regain my bearings," Locke told him. The bald man was trying not to get frustrated with Jack; they were both blaming themselves over what happened, but Jack was handling it much worse.

"Why haven't we caught them yet?" Usopp wondered out loud and looked at the others around him. The group that was resting looked at the man with a long nose and he continued, "You said he wasn't far in front of us, and he's dragging two people behind him. He can't be moving that fast."

"Usopp's right," Kate said. "We would have caught him by now, unless Ethan's not the only one out here."

"What does that mean?" Boone asked the woman.

Michael realized it and stated, "It means they can split up at any time. One of them can take Claire one way, while another takes Charlie the other way."

Locke knew how Ethan thought after watching him track animals and going hunting with him several times. "We have to be ready to split up," John said and he turned to Kate. "I'll take one group, you'll take the other."

"Got it," Kate said and then looked right past Locke with wide-eyes.

"Hey it's those things Charlie had on his fingers," Luffy said. The pirate captain was getting impatient too, but he didn't think he'd be able to find Charlie by just running off into the woods. He was never able to track Ace once he lost sight of his brother in the forest; it was one of the reasons he got faster and stronger, running through the woods all day trying to keep up as a kid and teenager.

The others looked over at Luffy in surprise and then ran over to see one of the white bands Charlie usually had on his fingers. "You think it just came off?" Boone asked.

"No," Jack said with a small smile, "He's leaving us a trail."

The captain scratched his hair under his hat and looked around, not seeing anyone around him. "CHARLIE!" he yelled. The teenager's voice still sounded like he hadn't gone through puberty yet and was pretty high-pitched, but the yell was loud enough to be heard a few miles into the woods where a group of men stopped running and snapped their heads back.

The survivors following this large group had no idea how many of the Others there were, because the ones that weren't dragging people away didn't leave trails behind them. Ethan looked at them all and nodded, everyone in the group except for him moving out in different directions as each other and starting to rush through the woods in a way that would leave a trail behind them. _Not them, I can't have those pirates following me._

Back at the group that started chasing them again, Luffy was right next to Locke and urging the bald man to go faster.

They kept running through the woods and the pirate spotted another one of those little white things that used to be on Charlie's fingers. This one had the letter 'A' written on it and Luffy started charging that direction.

"Hold on," Locke said and looked around him. He saw broken twigs, footprints, and an altogether destruction of the area all around him. The only one that didn't notice it as soon as they ran into this area was Luffy who was too focused on following Charlie's trail.

"What happened here?" Michael asked as he looked around.

"There are at least a dozen sets of footprints," Kate said, spinning around and looking all over the place. "They were travelling as a pack, and now they've split up."

"So who has Charlie and Claire?" Usopp asked and no one else spoke.

John was looking carefully at all the details and he pointed to his right. "Only one man ran in that direction, and he wasn't dragging anyone behind him. Same with that way, and that one," he pointed towards a branch that was obviously snapped to draw their attention. It was only obvious to him, and now to Kate as she looked at how strong the branch was that it wouldn't have been snapped easily.

"What?" Boone wondered, "Do we have to split up and go in every direction?"

"No!" Locke said sternly. "We don't know enough about them to go running off on our own. Besides, we only have two trackers, and when they don't want us to follow them anymore, they'll stop making such easy trails."

"I'm following Charlie," Luffy said and walked towards the branch that had the little white cloth hanging off it.

"Luffy's right," Jack said and walked after him. "Charlie's leaving a trail for us."

"Unless he's not the one leaving it," Kate countered as she walked back from a direction that she chose to follow. "It looks like more than one person headed in this direction. One of them seemed to have heavier footsteps than the others."

"Like someone would if they were carrying a person so as not to make drag marks," Locke explained and everyone looked around in frustration at the different paths.

"So we have two good paths, and two trackers," Michael said and held up his arms in both directions. "What are we waiting for?"

"Michael's right," Locke said and turned to the two men closest to him. "Boone, Usopp, follow me." He started going off the direction that Kate found since Jack and Luffy looked like they were going to follow the trail that Charlie was leaving no matter what.

"Me?" Usopp asked as Boone and Locke were already a few yards down the next trail. He looked back at Luffy who was smiling and listening as Kate told the other three to follow her. The brown haired girl ran into the trees and Jack, Luffy, and Michael followed behind her. _Ahh, Luffy don't leave!_ He turned and sprinted after Locke, "Wait up! Don't leave me alone!"

Locke felt nervous leaving Jack, but he was pretty sure that pirate kid would be able to protect him. If the green haired guy who hunted for polar bears could take down three without getting a scratch, then who knew what his captain could do? Plus, he hadn't forgotten the rubber boy saving him during the plane crash either.

The three of them ran through the woods and continued tying off red shirts to mark their progress. At one point Boone started talking about a television show called Star Trek and Usopp nervously started sweating more than just from the heat and exhaustion of running through the woods. "What about you? You know what I'm talking about?" Boone asked the teen walking between him and Locke.

"Oh yeah, of course! Haha," Usopp smiled wide and tried not to let his nervousness show through. Boone talked about how the red shirt guys always got killed and Locke said it sounded like a piss poor captain.

The muscular man in the tank top asked Locke what he did for a living, saying it was either a taxodermist or a hitman. Both of those options sounded scary to Usopp, but he wouldn't put it past the crazy old bald guy. "Actually, I was a regional manager at a cardboard manufacturer, we made boxes."

Locke continued walking and the other two looked at each other skeptically. "Boxes? Yeah right," Boone laughed and Usopp did too.

After a little more walking, Locke told them he lost the trail, but he was following his gut and who were the others to doubt this hunter's gut. It had gotten them this far and had put food in their stomachs for two weeks now.

"So what do you do in the real world, Boone?" Locke asked the short haired man behind him.

"I run a business," the other man said, which surprised John considering how young he was.

"What type of business?" Usopp asked.

"Ehh," Boone looked a little embarrassed by it. "It's a wedding thing. My mother has this uh, empire. Martha Stewart and Matrimonies."

"Who do you think is running it now?" Locke asked him.

Boone stopped, "I guess it doesn't matter does it?"

"Not really," the bald man said making Usopp chuckle a little. "I'm sure someone else can handle it." He turned to the seventeen year old with the long nose, "So what do you do in the real world? Besides being a pirate that is."

"Huh?" Usopp asked him. "Well, I haven't been a pirate for long, but before that," the kid chuckled and looked down with a wide smirk on his face. His voice turned to a lower tone and he laughed in a maniacal voice, "I was known throughout my home island as a great hero. Everyone would praise me as I walked down the streets, shouting, 'Oh Captain Usopp we love you!' HAHAHAHA!"

The other two stared at him for a few seconds and then they started laughing as well. "Good story," Locke said and patted him on the back before looking at the two of them together. "It's going to start raining in one minute. Give or take a few seconds. You boys should head back," Locke told them that the trail had gotten cold and he wanted them to be able to make it back before dark.

"What about you?" Boone asked, and Locke replied that he wasn't going back. To that, Boone said he wouldn't leave either, and then they both looked at Usopp.

"Of course I'll stay too," the man with the long nose said. _But only because I don't want to walk back through the scary jungle on my own._

"Alrighty then," Locke said and held up his arms at his sides. Then, the rain started coming down, exactly a minute after Locke said it would, and both of the others stared at this old guy like he was even more insane now.

"They teach you how to predict the weather at a box company?!" Boone yelled.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review below telling me what you think or any predictions about upcoming chapters!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

"Luffy! Luffy come back!" Kate shouted as the pirate went sprinting into the forest on their right for no apparent reason.

He spun back to her and Jack as the rain was pouring down on their heads. "You didn't see it?!" he shouted at them, spinning back around and staring out into the forest. "I won't let it get away!" He charged into the tree line in a different direction than Nami was suggesting they should go.

"'It?'" Michael questioned. Luffy didn't say 'him' which he would have if he was referring to Ethan. Whatever Luffy was chasing after, it wasn't Ethan and their friends.

"Luffy can take care of himself," Jack said and started rushing forward in the direction Kate pointed before.

"Jack wait!" Kate called to him. She looked to the right again where Luffy ran and then ahead at where Jack ran off to. "Hold on a minute. I said I _think_ it's this way. The rain is washing away the trail," Jack didn't slow down and she kept chasing him while Michael followed behind her.

"Well which is it Kate? Are they this way or aren't they?" Jack looked at her furiously and then snapped his head back around as he heard something. He heard it again and this time he was sure, it was a woman's scream. _Claire._ He started sprinting off and the other two chased behind him. "Did you hear that?" he shouted over the rain.

"Hear what?" Michael called up to the doctor.

"Claire, she screamed," he turned back and the other two were looking at him with confused expressions. "I heard it," he repeated, since the two of them didn't look like they heard anything.

The man turned and kept running, straight at a steep hill that he had to pass to get to where he thought the voice was coming from. He grabbed a vine and started pulling himself up the rope, Kate following him and Michael at the bottom taking a longer time to get on.

"Jack slow down," Kate told the man in front of her who was reaching up faster and trying to move more than his body would allow. The ground was wet and slippery and he didn't look like he was searching for good footholds every time he took a step.

"I know she's up there," Jack reached for the next root in the steep hill and it ripped out of the ground and he tugged on it and lifted up his legs.

"Jack!" Kate yelled as the man rolled back past her. He tumbled down the hill, flipping over himself over and over again. He bumped into Michael on his way down and the black man lost a grip on the vine he was climbing.

Michael slid down the hill on his butt and watched as Jack tumbled a few more times. The black man was soaked and now he was covered in mud, but watching Jack hit the ground that hard he knew it must have hurt and he got himself up and ran over. He could hear Kate shouting to them from up the hill and he called out, "It's okay, I got him!"

He ran over to Jack's side and leaned down over him, "Hey man, are you alright? You gotta slow it down," as he was talking to Jack, he noticed the disoriented doctor looking at something behind him. Jack's vision was blurry, but he definitely saw the form walking out of nowhere towards them from the bottom of the hill.

Michael turned around and his eyes doubled in size as Ethan walked up to him. His strides were longer than a normal person's, and although he looked like he was walking, he approached way too fast for Michael to even say anything. The black man attempted to punch Ethan, but Ethan lifted up a hand and caught Michael's fist before it gained any momentum.

The tall white man in the button down shirt twisted back on Michael's wrist and Michael shouted out in pain. The black man reached for the knife on his waist with his free hand, but Ethan tugged on Michael's arm and kneed him in the gut. The wind was knocked out of him and he dropped to his knees, then in the same second, Ethan brought down his other foot and stomped on Jack's back as the doctor attempted to stand.

Ethan pulled back his leg and kicked Jack in the side, flipping him over in one kick. Jack was already disoriented from the fall, but now his ribs hurt too and his vision was blurry as Ethan stomped down on his chest. The mysterious man pushed down and kept Jack from breathing in too much,

"If you do not stop following me, I will kill one of them." Ethan said in his most threatening voice. He pushed his foot down harder to show he meant it, cracking sounds heard in Jack's chest. He looked for an answer, but at that moment Jack grabbed his foot and twisted, throwing the other man off of him.

Ethan stumbled to the side and Jack pulled himself up to his feet. The doctor took a step forward and threw a punch, but Ethan moved to the side and the fist flew past him. Ethan turned back and punched Jack in the face once, twice, a third time, and sent the doc spinning out. Jack was dazed but he turned back around with his fists raised again. Just then, Michael was getting to his feet and he took a step backwards, afraid of this crazy man. He watched as Ethan punched Jack in the face and sent the doc sprawling into a rock.

The ground was covered in puddles and the dirt had all but turned to mud. Michael stepped backwards in fear again and he slipped on the mud, falling to the floor. He stared as Ethan reached forward and grabbed Jack by the collar, pulling him off of the rock so their faces were inches away. "This is your last warning," he then threw Jack down into a puddle on the floor and turned around. One look at Michael had the black man shimmying back across the floor until his back was up against the steep hill that he and Jack fell down.

Ethan walked off through the rain and disappeared in the woods like he was never there in the first place. Michael stared at the trees the man vanished into but didn't see any trace of him. "Jack! Michael!" The shotus were close but the black man couldn't look around as he kept staring off at the area Ethan walked to.

While Kate was making her way back to the guys, the rain stopped in the mystery jungle. Kate found her way back down a less steep part of the hill at that moment and ran right over to Jack. The doctor was on the floor with his face half in a puddle, eyes closed, covered in blood and mud. "Jack what happened? Jack. Jack!" She shook him awake and tilted his face so he was looking at her, "Are you okay?" Kate sounded very worried as she looked at the bruises on his face.

"How long was I out?" he mumbled and Kate started blabbering in a worried tone about how he must have slammed into the rocks. "It was Ethan, he was here," Jack said in a daze, letting himself get pulled up to his feet. He staggered a round a little, looking for the man who just kicked their asses. "I have to go after him," he said.

"Jack you have to stop!" Kate shouted at him. "The rain washed away the trail, even if we could, Jack!" She started following after him as he walked off towards the direction he thought Ethan went.

Kate was shouting about how Ethan wasn't here and Jack bumped his head, but Michael finally got up to his feet. "He's telling the truth," the man said with fear laced in his voice. "Jack, we should think about this, alright? We should," he couldn't believe he was saying it, but it was the truth, "we should get Locke. He'll be able to help."

"It would take too long," the doctor said without stopping, charging off into the jungle. Both of the others shouted after him, but Jack just shook his head, "I'm not letting him do this."

"Not letting him?" Kate shouted. She looked back at Michael, but the black man had no idea what Jack was talking about either. He looked around and saw something glinting on the floor. Michael ran over to it and pulled the knife out from the dirt, sliding it back in his belt.

The two of them chased after Jack as he charged into the woods again. Jack was snarling, glaring out into the trees in the direction he could feel Ethan had ran off to. "I won't let him."

sc

"I know you're here!" Luffy yelled. He punched a tree on his right and the trunk snapped in half. "Gum Gum Whip," he spun his body and spin-kicked the trunk as it was coming down with a stretchy leg. He sent it careening through the woods and tumbling right past a man who was hiding in a bush and now had a wide-eyed expression on his face.

 _How does he know I'm here? And what the fuck was that?! His leg, stretched!_

"Monster! I saw you! Come out!" Luffy looked around and sniffed a few times.

The man sitting in the bushes took a few small steps backwards. _Monster? If he's looking for it then he must be insane-_ the man stopped thinking and his mind went blank as he saw the teenager's face snap in his direction. He turned and started running through the trees, _Ethan never mentioned anything about this. Damn it, I have to report this to Ben..._ "Ah!" the man stopped short and dropped to his butt.

The guy stared straight ahead at the pair of legs in front of him and then looked slowly up at the boy staring down at him. "Hmm, you're not the monster," Luffy sounded disappointed and he looked away. The boy cupped his mouth with his hands and called out, "Monster! You can't hide forever, I know you're here!" He definitely saw the wisp of black smoke rushing through the woods and following his group earlier, and this was the direction it went.

"Why would you be looking for that thing?" the man questioned in a nervous voice. _I'm not behind the pylons, this is dangerous._ He looked around and then he and Luffy both froze, _**Tss tss chchch**_. They spun their heads to the left and saw a little wisp of smoke sliding under a bush. Luffy took a step in that direction, but then the noises came from behind them, louder this time. _**ChChCh CLANK WOOO!**_

A mile in front of them, Kate, Jack, and Michael spun around and stared off into the jungle. A mile to the right of those three, Ethan stopped dragging the two people with him for a second and stared back with wide-eyes.

"That's the direction Luffy went," Kate said nervously.

Jack spun back in the direction that he thought Ethan was escaping. Then he looked back where the noises were coming from. _Luffy's survived it before... but that was just barely and I was there to wrap his wounds._ He looked back towards where he thought Charlie and Claire had gone to and growled under his breath. "Quickly, let's get him," the doctor turned and started sprinting towards the sound of the monster.

Kate dropped her jaw at him and Michael looked back the way they were just running, "What about Charlie and Claire?"

"It will only take a second," the doctor called out. He was mad at Luffy for running, but if that teen get killed because he let him run off on his own, that would be even worse than letting Claire get taken. _'I will kill one of them.' Bullshit Ethan, if you wanted to kill them you would have done it already, not dragged them out into the woods. I don't know what you're planning, but I will find you!_

Luffy and the mysterious man dressed in rags in the woods were spinning their heads around as the noises from all around them were getting louder. _**EEEACKACKACK OOOOCRASH!**_ A tree flew out of the ground, roots and all and shot up in the sky.

"Sorry kid," the man stated as he whipped out a pouch he had tied to his back. Luffy turned and stared at the man with a confused look as the guy opened the top of the baggie and started dumping out gray ash on the floor. He spun the bag in a circle and surrounded himself with a line of the ash.

"What is that stuff?" Luffy asked. While he was distracted, a line of black smoke flew out of the ground behind him. It uprooted the closest tree and sent the tree soaring up in the air. Then a huge pillar of smoke flew out of the ground and slamed into the pirate.

Luffy tumbled across the floor, flipping over and over again. He finally planted his feet on the ground and skid backwards, wincing as his sandals got torn up by roots and the ground scratched up the bottoms of his feet. He snapped up his head angrily, but with a smirk on his face, "Found you," he growled and started charging forward. He only took a few steps when he froze and stared at the man who was now right next to the black smoke monster.

The monster was a foot in front of the Other's face, but it looked like it was trying to get closer. It was pushing towards him, but it was as if an invisible wall rose up from the circle of ash at the man's feet and protected him. The guy looked terrified at first, but as he saw for the first time the ash doing what it was supposed to, he grinned and started laughing.

Luffy looked at the pillar of black smoke and tilted his head at it. He watched as a smaller line of smoke stretched out from the side the man wasn't looking at and it reached up in the tree above him. The monster slammed that appendage into the base of a tree branch and the branch fell off of the tree, slamming down into the ground next to the raggedy man and stunning him enough for him to take a step back. His left foot stepped out of the circle and a small line of smoke wrapped around in that instant and grabbed him by the foot, dragging him out of the ash circle.

The pirate was already sprinting forward and he threw an arm forward. Luffy stretched his arm out and grabbed the guy by the hand as he started to get dragged across the floor. He used his other arm to wrap around a nearby tree and then planted his feet on the ground. _**CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK**_. It sounded like a train in their ears or someone winding something up very loudly. Whatever the beast was doing, it was putting more pressure on the guy Luffy was holding, making him scream as he was pulled both directions.

Luffy was surprised by how strong the smoke monster was. He thought it just had strange powers, but it was now pulling his arm and dragging the man across the floor again. He realized that if he held on any tighter, the guy might lose his arm and he'd lose the guy to the creature, so he let go of the tree with his other arm.

The bald man wearing rags was pretty young, but this was nonetheless the most eventful day of his life so far. He lived on the most magical island in existence, but _this,_ this was insane. The pirate soared after him and the monster after releasing his grip on the tree, and he brought forward his right fist while still holding onto the other man's hand with his left. Aldo stared up at the boy's fist and thought, _Useless! There's no point in trying to punch it..._ he stopped thinking as his stomach slammed into another rock while he was being dragged away and pain filled his mind.

When the bald, dark-skinned Other stopped feeling pain, he became very confused. For some reason, he wasn't being dragged anymore. He didn't even feel the smoke monster's grip around his legs. Instead he heard a horrifying scream and turned himself over. He stared in shock as the creature that was dragging him backed away from the encroaching pirate.

Luffy was grinning madly and took another step forward, punching ahead at the monster that widened its stomach so that there was no smoke on the inside where the arm flew right through. The pirate grabbed his stretched out arm with his other hand though and tugged it to his left, "Gum Gum Scythe!" his arm flew sideways across the air and broke through the monster's left side, causing the horrible scream to ring out again.

Aldo recognized the emotion that went with that type of scream. It was pain. _He's hurting it? How the Hell is he..._ the man stared closer at Luffy's right hand that now snapped back towards him. The pirate in a black tank top and straw hat had gray all over his right arm. _My ash. When he let go of the tree, he must have ran his arm through it on his way over. He may look like an idiot, but this kid is smart._

"Here monster monster monster," Luffy beckoned with his left hand, curling his fingers in tauntingly. "Come let me catch you! Gum Gum Pistol!" He punched forward again with his right hand, but this time the monster was prepared for it and soared to its right. It flew past a few trees so Luffy couldn't just swing his arm and still hit it. The pirate pulled his arm back and started chasing the monster, but the tree in between them suddenly lifted up and flew towards him.

The tree slammed into a fully healed Luffy, and the pirate yelled out as he crossed his arms. The tree pinned him back against another tree that broke in half when they collided with it. Meanwhile, the Other was crawling towards the treeline away from the battle. _This is crazy. I need to report this all to Ben. Jacob will want to know about this kid and the monster's weakness._

The guy looked over his shoulder and saw two trees lying on the ground fly off in opposite directions. The skinny teenager flew out from between them and punched down towards the monster again, but it seemed like the amount of ash on his arm had really gone down. The creature didn't even scream as the fist hit it, but Aldo did see some of the black smoke sizzle into red.

Aldo got up to his feet while looking back. He backpeddaled a few steps, and then spun around and came face to face with a man that did _not_ look happy to see him. Jack took one look at the man covered in rags and he socked the guy in the jaw as hard as he could.

Jack winced in pain as he felt his knuckles all start bleeding. He looked down at the guy kneeling on the floor who was moaning in pain and directed his anger at Ethan at him, kicking the guy in the side of the head and sending him sprawling out on his stomach. The other two survivors behind him came running out of the trees and they stared down at the man at Jack's feet. "Who the Hell is that?" Michael shouted.

Jack looked behind him where Kate and Michael were running towards him. He looked back down and saw the man looking away from him. Aldo was staring backwards with a lot more fear towards whatever was back that way than towards the man who just punched him in the face.

"AAHHH!" a voice screamed. Jack looked up and stared in shock as Luffy came flying towards him and slammed into a tree on their left. He looked in the direction the boy came flying in from, but he did not like what he saw.

The monster looked over and saw Jack staring straight at it. There were two others coming out from behind Jack and it couldn't let them see it too. In a split second, the whole cloud of black smoke shot down into a hole in the ground where one of the trees it ripped out used to stand.

The doctor ignored the man on the floor for a second. He ignored his two friends running out from behind him and the pirate struggling up to his feet on his left. _The monster is real. I can't deny it. Luffy is incredibly strong, so is Zoro._ Thinking about everything he didn't understand wasn't important right now and he knew it. "We have to go after Ethan," he muttered.

Kate and Michael were staring around at the small area covered in toppled trees. They heard Jack's declaration and looked at him like he was insane, "Whatever knocked down these trees is still out here."

"I'm gonna catch it first," Luffy said and took a step forward away from the tree he slammed into. He felt a hand on his right shoulder though and started looking behind him, right into a bloody fist that knocked him skidding backwards a few feet. He shook his head in surprise and then stared forward to where Jack was glaring at him. Kate and Michael were staring just as shocked as Luffy was. "What was that for?!" Luffy shouted at the doctor.

"Why would you need to catch it?" Jack yelled at the man. He motioned around himself, "Do you think it's going anywhere?" The doctor yelled at the teen who frowned at Jack. He was a pirate, which meant he could do whatever he wanted. Jack saw the defiant look in the kid's eyes and wanted to slug him again, "What about Charlie and Claire? Did you just forget about them?" Jack growled at Luffy.

The pirate stared back at Jack and his glare softened a little. While they were arguing, the bald man on the ground was crawling away silently, but Kate stomped down on his back. "Where do you think you're going?" She whispered at him.

Luffy looked to his left and he had a bad feeling in his stomach. "Let's go after them then," he agreed. He imagined the pregnant girl's face, the one who was always hanging out with Nami. Then he thought about the rockstar whose drug withdrawl he knew about, who he was helping through hard times as a friend. The pirate started running off through the trees without another word.

 _That worked,_ Jack thought to himself in annoyance. The kid got distracted so easily that he felt he should chase after him to make sure he didn't run off to go do something else again. "Alright, we're going," he said, turning around and stumbling to the side, rubbing his head.

"Jack," Kate complained, "we have no idea where they went. The trail is gone and we're not even near where we lost it."

"We'll find them," the doctor promised.

"And what about him?" Michael mentioned, looking over at the man Kate had pressed under her foot.

Jack walked over and looked down, "He's going to help us."

sc

Ethan stood at a tree in the forest. He was panting a little after dragging these two so far, but it didn't seem like he was being followed anymore. He heard noises behind him and turned, seeing two of his comrades running out of the bushes without caring about not making trails. "What is it?" he ordered them.

"They're heading this way," the woman with her black hair in a ponytail reported first. "They haven't given up yet, and we're getting close to The Tempest. What should we do? We can't let them find..."

"That's not all," the man next to her stated. The girl looked nervous about that and Ethan realized she'd left something out. The short young man with cropped brown hair cleared his throat, "The survivors, they captured Aldo."

"That idiot!" Ethan punched his fist into the tree next to him and bark splintered off. He looked down at the two people at his feet with bags over their heads. _I warned you Jack._ "Alright," he snapped his head up, "do either of you have a pen?"

sc

"I think he went this way," Kate mentioned as she turned left and continued jogging through the trees.

Jack and Michael were behind her with a man tied up between them. He had vines wrapped around his hands, keeping them at his sides, as well as one in his mouth to keep him quiet. The black plane survivor kicked the other dark-skinned man in the back as he tried slowing down a little and Aldo stumbled forward to keep up the pace. "We have your man!" Michael shouted.

Jack cupped his mouth and yelled as well, "Give up Charlie and Claire, or he's dead!"

Aldo had sweat coming down his face. It wasn't so much from the threats of these plane crash survivors. It was more from what he felt Ethan was going to do once he was freed. _There's no way they would allow me to stay in the survivor's camp. I know too much._ For some reason though, that thought scared him as much as it relieved him.

"We have your man!" Michael shouted again.

"Guys look," Kate pointed ahead and they stopped as they saw Luffy looking around between a few trees. It wasn't hard to track the teen who bumbled through the forest overturning every rock and stepping on every twig in his path. The raven haired female survivor ran up to Luffy, calling out, "Wait up a second."

The pirate looked back. He watched as the other four came out of the trees where he just came out from and smiled. Jack did not smile back at him. The doctor looked as serious as could be and he walked up to Luffy, "Are you just wasting our time?" he growled at the pirate, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "Because if you don't know where they are-"

"They're this way," Luffy said confidently. He looked behind him and sniffed a few times, but other people being this close to him messed up how easy it was to track Charlie's scent earlier.

As Jack was about to argue with him, Kate called out, "He's right." She looked to her right and ran over to some trees. Kate bent down to an area that Luffy hadn't run to yet. She saw a few tracks heading in the same direction Luffy was when they caught up and she pointed in front of her.

"Stay with us this time," Jack said to Luffy and then walked past him to follow Kate. The pirate shrugged and looked back to see the black man with curly hair pushing the bald one forward.

"Hey, you brought baldy along!" Luffy exclaimed with a laugh. "Thanks for that dusty stuff. I wouldn't have been able to hit the monster without it. Where'd you get it?" The pirate talked so casually to the bald guy that he opened his mouth to respond, but then snapped it shut immediately as he realized how stupid that would be.

The guy stayed silent and Luffy shrugged again. He walked forward a little faster to keep up with Jack and the girl in front of him. Kate pushed through branches and hanging vines as she attempted to follow the trail on the ground that looked like people had come sprinting through here. She was still staring down when she pushed the next branch out of the way.

She gasped. Looking down at the floor, she saw two shoes lifted a yard off the ground. Kate slowly lifted her head and her eyes followed up the shoes, past the legs, the shirt, and finally to the neck that had vines wrapped all around it. A few inches higher she saw Charlie's face, lifeless, with his eyes closed. He was swinging slowly in a circle and hanging by a thick vine coming off of the tree next to him.

Jack came out from behind her and was wondering why she stopped all of a sudden. His breath only caught in his throat for a millisecond before he charged forward, grabbing the rockstar by the legs and lifting him up higher, trying to take pressure off of his neck.

"Kate, the vines," he shouted. The girl was in too much shock, but he shouted it again and she ran forward, pulling out her knife. The black haired woman started climbing up the tree, while Luffy stared motionless at the man hanging by his neck from the tree.

"Charlie," Luffy whispered. He stared at the dead rockstar and his heart raced. It was beating twice as fast as normal and he darted his eyes around, looking for whoever did this to him.

Michael came walking out of the trees with Aldo and the bald man smirked at the sight in front of him. Michael spotted something the others didn't too and pushed the man out a little farther from the trees, "There's something written on his chest," the father stated.

The black man with curly hair leaned in and his mouth lowered a little. "Stop following us and release our man," Michael read, "or they die too." He stared at the note pinned on Charlie's chest and the other three men on the ground looked in at it.

Jack kept holding up Charlie's legs, but he stared up and tried to get a look at the note. Luffy looked at it and snarled, balling his hands into fists. He looked up at the vine holding Charlie up and where it was sticking out of, "Gum Gum," he started and the others all looked at him wondering what he was doing, "Pistol!" he yelled and punched his arm up to the part of the tree the vines were sticking out of.

All the branches holding the vines up cracked and Jack felt all of Charlie's weight fall on him. He fell to the ground with the rockstar on top of him and then rolled Charlie over. "Okay Charlie, stay with me. Come on," he checked Charlie's pulse and heartbeat, both were gone.

As Jack started CPR, Kate stayed exactly where she was halfway up the tree. She was holding on for dear life and staring at Luffy like he was a monster, which he really was.

Michael dropped the vine he had connected to the vines wrapped around Aldo, and the bald man sprinted to the right a second later. "Wait," he shouted, turning and chasing him for a few steps.

"Stop!" Jack called out and Luffy and Michael both spun and faced the doctor who continued his chest compressions. Jack didn't even look their way, _He warned me. He said he would kill one of them, but I didn't believe him. I won't make that mistake again._ "Let him go," the spinal surgeon ordered.

"But..." Luffy began.

"Do you want Claire and the baby to be next?" Jack shouted, spinning and glaring at the pirate straight in the eyes. He looked back down and continued watching as he did the chest compressions. He leaned in and tried breathing air in Charlie's lungs, but there was still no response. "Come on damn it, come on," he was telling the man, though he was talking mainly to himself.

Everyone else was losing hope as they stared at Jack. His attempts seemed futile, his own desperate voice every time he muttered, "Come on." Michael looked away and ran his hands through his short hair a few times in frustration. Jack was punching Charlie's chest now, but nothing was working. The others didn't care about Luffy's ability, they had completely forgotten about it at the moment as they stared at their friend dying and the desperate attempts to save him.

Luffy watched as Jack attempted to save Charlie's life, but from the looks on Michael and Kate's faces, there was nothing to save. Kate had climbed down the tree and walked over to Jack. She looked down at Charlie and fell to her knees. She grabbed Charlie's hand as tears filled her eyes, "Jack, Jack he's gone." She shook her head, "Stop Jack," he breathed into Charlie's lungs again, but still nothing. "Jack, he's gone!" she shouted. The doctor leaned backwards and sat on his knees, staring at the rockstar he couldn't save.

Kate leaned down and cried next to the man who kept staring in shock at Charlie. "If we had been here sooner. If it didn't take so long," he kept whispering to himself, trying to put the blame on Luffy for holding them up, but it was his fault they were taken in the first place. Kate was still crying on is shoulder, but he brushed her away, "No, No."

He got back up and crawled over to Charlie. "Come on man, it's over," Michael told him. "He's gone."

"Jack, Stop!" Kate shouted.

"I'm not giving up," Jack started doing the compressions again until he could breath into Charlie's lungs. Then he did them again, and again, and he was shouting at the man he was trying to help, "Come on God damn it!" He punched down on Charlie's chest and the rockstar lurched up, his eyes flying open and breathing in the loudest breath they'd ever heard.

"Aaaaaaggghhcccc," Charlie wrenched for air. He coughed violently for a few seconds, but everyone around him was staring in shock. He was dead for who knew how long before they got there, and it had been a few minutes since then too. Their shock quickly turned into happy and relieved looks as they all bent down next to him and tried helping him.

The only one who didn't look happy was the pirate standing a few feet from them. _He almost died. He did die. Why- Why couldn't I stop it?_ He looked down at the gasping blonde man and thought, _How can I be the Pirate King, if I can't even save my friends?_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

"Locke, I'm gonna head back," Boone stated. Both of the others turned towards him surprised. "I'll follow the strips back to camp." He didn't see how Locke could still be following Ethan's trail after this long, and it was already dark.

"Uh," Usopp looked back and forth between the two. He wanted to go back to camp as well, but staying with Locke was probably safer. "I-I'm going back too," he said after a moment's deliberation.

"Suit yourselves," John replied. The bald hunter turned and started walking away. Boone and Usopp looked at each other, and then started walking off. "Wait," the older man called out. They turned to him and he smiled, holding up his flashlight. "You need this more than I do."

Locke tossed them the flashlight, but it was slippery and Usopp dropped it. **Clank.** When it hit the ground, it made a sound like metal on metal. That was pretty confusing since they were in the middle of the woods, so they all walked over and bent down. Usopp picked up the flashlight and pointed it down while the other two brushed off some mud and grass that was on top of a big piece of metal.

"What is this?" Boone asked.

Locke turned to him and grinned, "That's what we're going to find out."

* * *

Zoro sat on the edge of the beach. He had a fishing rod in his hands, trying to catch himself some food before his mid-afternoon workout. The fishing rod was no more than a piece of bamboo with a string attached. The string had a sharp piece of metal at the end of it, but so far he hadn't caught anything.

Sitting next to him on his left was the mute guy. The huge black man from the other side of the island hadn't said a word since Zoro met him. Apparently he did speak on the first day after the crash, but that first night he killed two of the Others who tried dragging him into the woods. Since then he hadn't said a single word to anyone. Eko just sat there, silently fishing with the strangely powerful man with green hair.

Zoro didn't mind the silence. Actually, he was glad he was getting some peace and quiet. It was a good opportunity to think. Luffy was out running through the jungle trying to find the kidnapped pregnant girl. Usopp had left the last three days early in the morning with the bald hunter and Boone. Apparently the three of them were hunting for boar, but recently they hadn't brought any back. He didn't know where Nami was, but she was probably busy doing something too.

 _We've been on this island almost three weeks now. What are we still doing here?_ He looked to his right. Further down the beach, there was one other person sitting this far away from camp. He had red marks on his neck where Zoro heard the rope had choked the life out of him. _Ethan... I should have noticed. I went hunting with him. He was always watching me closely. I knew there was probably a spy in our camp since the tail section had one. Why didn't I realize it was him sooner?_

Zoro dropped his fishing rod. The green haired man stood up, "I need to train," he stated. The large black man turned and watched Zoro walk into the trees, drawing his sword and the two bamboo sticks he also had tied to his waist.

As he walked into the woods, someone was walking out of the tree line on the other end of the beach. Most people were camped up in the scarce trees at the top of the beach so he drew a little attention from people as he walked through. The tide had come up the beach so the survivors had to move their camp closer to the treeline.

Luffy walked out of the jungle onto the sandy edge of the woods where tarps and tents were set up around the few scattered trees. He walked past the people in camp and they parted for him. He looked tired, dirty, and angry.

"Looks like another all-nighter," Kate mentioned to Jack. She nodded her head towards the teen's shelter. Jack turned around to see the boy walking across the camp.

"It's a big island," Jack stated. "These people have lived on it a lot longer than we have. It's not going to be easy to find them."

"And what are you going to do when you do find them?" Someone asked behind Jack and Kate. They looked back and saw Ana Lucia standing behind them with an apple in her hand. "We don't know how many of them there are, where to find them, how armed they are. We can sharpen a few sticks and go after them as a big group, but..."

Ana noticed the other two looking at each other knowingly. "What?" She asked them in a demanding tone.

Jack reached up his left hand. He grabbed a piece of string he had tied around his neck and pulled it out from under his shirt. There was a key hanging on the bottom of it, "What if I said I know where there are some guns?"

The ex-cop stared at the key and then looked at the doctor, "I would ask you how the Hell did you manage that?"

"The Marshall," Jack whispered. He saw two people walking past them and smiled at Steve and Joanna. They smiled back at him, and when they were out of earshot, he continued, "He had a case of five guns. We got it open."

Jack cast a look at Kate and she looked away ashamed. She tried to steal the key and open it on her own, but Jack caught her. It wasn't the guns she wanted, but a small plane in an envelope that was also in the case. When Jack questioned her why it was so important, she said it belonged to the man she killed.

The doctor looked back at Ana Lucia, "We're trying not to let anyone else know about it for now. The less people the better."

"Yeah I get it," Ana remarked, a little pissed about being kept out of the loop for however long they had this case. "Who else knows?"

"Just the pilot," Jack said. He looked over to a tent set up on the corner of camp. "He said it was up to us on what to do with it."

"He doesn't want a part in this?" Ana asked. She looked over to the tent too, "So, what's his deal? He ever gonna take charge, or is the doctor going to lead us into battle?" Her sarcastic tone had some serious qualities in it.

The aforementioned doctor shook his head, "The concussion wasn't that bad. I don't know what's wrong with him," Jack then looked over at the biggest shelter in the camp. "The guns might not even be necessary though."

Kate and Ana Lucia looked that way too. Kate thought about how Luffy fought whatever that monster was and lived to tell the tale. Ana thought about how Zoro threw an adult man fifty feet over the water after chopping his hand off.

"Two men surely couldn't take everything they've got, right?" Kate asked. She sounded a little nervous, being almost as afraid of their new friends as she was of the Others.

Jack stared at the shelter, _Who knows?_

When Luffy walked into their makeshift home, he was surprised to see Nami sitting in there with the Korean lady, Sun. They looked like they were mid-conversation when he cut them off, but that didn't make sense since Sun didn't speak English.

They both became very worried as they were sharing some deep secrets with each other. However, a few seconds after Luffy walked in the room, he fell face first on his cushiony bed.

Both of the ladies laughed but grew quiet as to not wake the sleeping captain. "So, he did not find Claire?" Sun whispered to her orange haired friend.

Nami shook her head. She wondered why Luffy was so caught up with getting Claire back. She missed her pregnant friend too, but Luffy was spending every waking minute going after her.

* * *

"Sure Kill, Gunpowder star!" Usopp fired his last explosive round at the top of the hatch. He, Locke, and Boone ran out from behind a tree the "hunting party" was hiding behind.

The three of them ran up to the top of the metal hatch sticking out of the ground. "Damn," Boone muttered as he stared at the sealed hatch. "Really thought we had it that time."

"I'm sure I hit the latch," Usopp whispered. "Guess the explosion wasn't big enough."

"No, no no," Locke ran his hand over the top of his bald head. "This was supposed to work. Why didn't it work?!" He tilted his head up and shouted at the sky.

"We'll try again," Boone told the hunter who looked pissed that the plan didn't work out. They stared at it for two days before Locke came up with this idea, and yet it still didn't work. "Remember all that stuff you said about Michelangelo and the statue of David? It'll take some time."

"Hmm," Locke mumbled, staring back at the steel door in the ground.

"You know," Usopp started up, his voice sounding a bit nervous. "If I told Luffy about this, he could probably..."

"No," Locke said in a stern voice. He turned to the long nosed man with a harsh gaze, making Usopp flinch. "The less people who know about this the better."

"Why?" Boone questioned. He really wanted to go tell his step-sister Shannon what they were doing, but Locke was being pretty clear with this rule. "They're all going to get suspicious when we keep going 'hunting' and never come back with any boar."

"We can't tell them!" Locke shouted at the younger two. He saw their surprised looks as he normally didn't yell at them, and he turned away rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Jack, wouldn't understand. None of them would," Locke shook his head.

"Well then, what are we supposed to do?" Boone asked, getting annoyed at the old man. "Because this," he waved around at the uncovered hatch they dug all around to reveal, "is getting us nowhere."

"Our faith is just being tested," John said, looking down a little and clenching his fists. "The island will give us a sign."

"The island will send us a sign?" Usopp repeated loudly, wondering if he heard it wrong or if the others thought it sounded as stupid as he thought it did. He looked over at Locke for a reaction, but John and Boone were staring straight at each other, neither one moving.

"Yes," John replied, still staring at Boone. "The island will send us a sign."

"The island will send us a sign," Boone repeated in a monotone voice, looking back at John Locke with blank eyes.

Usopp looked back and forth between the two of them and he started to sweat very badly. "Umm, guys-" both of the others turned their heads towards him with blank expressions on their faces. "Wh-Wh-Wh-" Usopp's stuttering was replaced by a high-pitched shriek coming from right behind him.

The long nosed man spun around and looked through the scattered trees to see Claire sitting on a log, her face looking strained as she puffed out her cheeks and screamed again. "You're doing great, again!" Usopp rubbed his eyes, not seeing who this voice was coming from, but when he moved his hands down, the log Claire was on was half the distance away from him. Kate was kneeling in front of it now, and as he looked at the pregnant girl he heard creaking behind him.

Usopp spun around fast, panting heavily as he tried to get a grip on what was going on. When he looked behind him, he jumped five feet in the air as there was a dark-skinned kid standing two feet away from him. "W-Walt?" Usopp asked. His vision flashed white for a second and then the boy was still standing there, only now he was pointing up in the sky.

Usopp was about to follow his gaze, but to the boy's left, he heard the creaking again and looked over to see Locke sitting on a wheelchair. Boone was behind him, struggling to push the squeaky chair through the grass. Boone was muttering under his breath and Usopp heard him, "...Teresa falls up the stairs, Teresa falls down the stairs. Teresa falls up..."

" _ **Eeeee-**_ **oooo** _ **-rrrrrr**_ **chchchch** ," Usopp snapped his head up towards the air where the ten year old African American boy was pointing. His eyes widened to see another plane, only this one much smaller, and yellow, falling out of the air with smoke coming out of it. It flew above the tree line to the point where he couldn't see it anymore, but at the same time he heard Boone stop mumbling and he snapped his head down to look at the slightly older guy.

"Only you can save them," Boone said, turning over to Usopp. "But you're running out of time."

"Save who?!" Usopp shouted, panic rushing over him.

"Ahhh!" He heard the shriek from behind him again, and this time the three people in front of him disappeared when it happened. Usopp slowly turned around, and standing only five feet away from him was Claire and Kate, only now Claire's stomach wasn't protruding like before.

"Did you-" he started to ask, but everything flashed for a second and all he could hear was crying. When the flash stopped he wondered if it had even happened, but then a second time it flashed and he saw blood all over Claire and Kate, the two of them lying on the ground next to the log. The baby's crying was still loud and Usopp looked up from the two bloody women to see Ethan standing behind them with a gun in his hand. Ten other people stood behind him as well, all shadowed by the darkness.

Usopp's face was turning blue as he looked at Ethan, and then Ethan looked right back at him. The muscular guy who hung Charlie and kidnapped Claire lifted up his index finger to his mouth. "Shhh," he whispered, the baby in his arms becoming deadly silent in that moment.

The silence was more unsettling than anything, and Usopp began breathing louder and louder as his legs shook beneath him. Suddenly, two strong hands slammed down on Usopp's shoulders and he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Whoa!" Luffy shouted back as he jumped away from Usopp who he was just trying to shake awake.

Usopp got up to his feet and scrambled backwards quickly. "What? Where?" Everything was dark around him, and as he stumbled back he found himself pressed up against the wall of the cave he was in.

"Usopp, you're alright," Nami whispered, the long nosed teen snapping his head to the left now and seeing Nami light up a candle to illuminate the cave. "What are you even doing out here?" The orange haired girl asked him once it looked like he'd calmed down a little.

Usopp calmed his breathing more and more and his back slid down the inner rock wall. 'It was just a dream. Fwew- "The island will send us a sign..."' The scrawny pirate's eyes widened, but he shook his head quickly and smiled. 'No, that's ridiculous.'

"Don't ignore me!" Nami punched the curly haired teen on top of the head and Usopp slammed into the floor.

"Ow!" Usopp rubbed the top of his head and then looked back up at Nami. "Stop hitting me!"

"Then tell me why you're in this cave," Nami retorted.

"Well I," Usopp began, then faded off, looking around him. "Cave?" He mumbled.

"We came up to get some water for the group, but Luffy found you over here in this cave," Nami started, her voice actually sounding a little concerned towards the end. "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

Usopp's eyes widened which Nami and Luffy could both see in the flickering candlelight of the cave. Everyone had moved out of the caves the other day after Claire was taken, the beach becoming the safest place for them to be again. So as to why he was lying down near the mouth of one...

"A nightmare?" He whispered. His mind flashed to the plane falling out of the sky, Claire and Kate's bodies, Ethan's scary mug. The teen shook his head, trying to ignore how vivid the dream was and how he could remember it as well as if he were completely awake. "Yeah sure, but, how did I get in this cave?"

"That's what I'm asking you!" Nami yelled, lifting up her fist again and making Usopp cross his arms in front of him for protection. "Jeez, you know, if you guys keep wandering off into the jungle of doom by yourselves, you're not going to make it back one of these days." She sighed in defeat and stood back up, walking back out of the cave. "Not that I care about a bunch of pirates," she mumbled under her breath.

"Let's head back to the beach Usopp," Luffy said to the other boy still sitting on his butt in the cave.

"Y-yeah," Usopp replied, jumping up to his feet. The two of them walked out after Nami, Luffy with a large pack on his back with all the water bottles in it. Usopp turned to Luffy as they walked, "So, you're gonna stay in the tent tonight?" For the past three nights, Luffy has been running around Mystery Island, but he was back now and acting like nothing was wrong.

Luffy didn't reply to the sharpshooter for a few seconds. They continued to walk, and Luffy finally muttered, "I can't find her."

Nami was walking ten steps ahead of the boys, but she did perk up hearing Luffy talk about this. She hadn't asked him herself, but she slowed down a little so she could hear the conversation better while they walked down the trail. Luffy continued, "I found something else though. Tomorrow, I'm going to go there."

"What did you find?" Usopp asked interestedly.

"An island," Luffy replied with a smile.

Both Usopp and Nami fell over at the captain's statement and they jumped back up to their feet fast. They spun towards the rubberman and slapped the air in front of him, "We're on an island, Baka!"

"Another island," Luffy clarified, making the other two tilt their heads at him. "On the other side of this one from our beach, there's another island. I wanna go explore it tomorrow, but I wanted to eat some meat first and see if Zoro or Jack or anyone wanted to come." The boy wearing a straw hat looked way too excited for this.

"So you're not too worried about Claire anymore huh?" Nami asked, malice laced in her voice as she turned back around and kept walking down the trail. _Maybe I was wrong about you Luffy._

"She could be on that island," Usopp suggested. He smiled, "If Luffy's checked everywhere else, then she must be! I'll go too," the sniper punched his right fist into his open left hand and Luffy smiled at his crewmate.

Nami slowly smiled from where she was ten feet in front of them. She looked over her shoulder a little, "Wow Usopp, that's so brave of you. Running right towards Ethan and the rest of those people who want to kidnap you. I know I'm not brave enough to go, but thank you for going in my stead." As she spoke, Usopp's smile dropped lower and lower until his bottom lip was stopped down below the top lip and his eyes bugged out in fear. "Give Ethan my regards," Nami teased before spinning back around and continuing to walk.

Luffy started cracking up and followed after Nami as Usopp stuttered madly. "O-on s-s-second thought! How about w-we get Zoro to go instead?!"

* * *

The sky was black. Night had fallen a while ago, but the man standing in the woods could clearly see the unnatural lump coming out of the ground. It was covered in vines making it look almost as if it were meant to be there, but he was not deceived.

He came out earlier to train, but once he finished it seemed like it took a lot longer to get back to the beach than it took to get to where he was training. On his very long journey back, he happened upon this unnatural lump in the woods.

The muscular man in a green t-shirt placed his right hand down on the single sword he had on his waist. He swiped the blade and slid it back into the white sheath in the same motion. When he clicked the blade back in, all the vines in front of him fell. Behind them, was a steel door.

Two metal doors, in the middle of the mystery jungle, on a crazy island. The guy glanced at the strange symbol marking the doors, swirling red snakes in the middle of an octagon with only the word 'Dharma' in the center. He didn't pay much attention to the symbol though. Instead, he was looking at the handles on either of the doors.

Roronoa Zoro closed his eyes and listened closely to the other side of the steel. The doors cut off sound from the woods pretty well, so Zoro really had to concentrate to hear what was happening on the other side.

The man's eyes widened as he heard the voices on the other side of the door. He wasn't surprised so much by the fact that there were people inside, but by what he heard the first person say when he started listening. Zoro reached forward and grabbed the handles to the door, then yanked both back hard, ripping the doors off their hinges.

Inside the door, two people were holding up unlit torches. They looked like they were about to go outside, when the doors flew open. They each took steps back in fear, looking at the silhouette in the darkness outside the base. His eyes looked red as he glared inside at them. The two looking outside could tell he was a tall figure, and big as well. This man who opened the doors suddenly barged into the station, lifting up his right hand and drawing a katana with it.

"Wh-Who are you?" The shorter of the two men, with short brown hair, asked the swordsman.

Zoro glared into this man's eyes, and he growled out three words. "Give. Claire. Back."

* * *

 **A/N Hope everyone is enjoying the story! Usopp has a strange vision and Luffy finds another island off the coast of this one. Meanwhile, Zoro finds an old Dharma station in the woods full of enemies. What will happen next?! XD**


	18. Chapter 18

**OPL 18**

"Hey Nami."

The teenage girl lying back on a chair on the beach lifted her right hand to her head and lowered her sunglasses. She turned to the side and brushed some of her short orange hair out from in front of her light brown eyes. Nami smiled at the older woman with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and lots of freckles on her cheeks. "Hi Kate," the younger girl greeted.

Kate stared at the eighteen year old girl with the body of a model. She was showing it off too. Nami was wearing an orange bikini and bottoms as she tanned out on the beach. Kate scratched her neck and looked over her shoulder as she started talking, "You know, I haven't seen your friends for a while."

"You want to know what they're doing?" Nami asked, sitting up fully now on the chair and swinging her legs over the side of it. "Well," she started, then frowned and muttered, "that makes two of us."

"You don't know?" Kate asked.

Nami shook her head slowly. She began again, "I know Usopp's been hunting with Locke and Boone, but the other two are just missing." She wished Luffy would make it back soon, but after that night he mentioned heading to the smaller island, she hadn't seen him or Zoro once. _He probably took Zoro with him. Idiots._

Kate stared at the girl who seemed oddly calm despite the fact two of her friends were missing on this island full of monsters and kidnappers. "You aren't worried?"

"Nah," the younger girl replied, sliding her sunglasses back down a little. "Those two can take care of themselves."

Kate nodded, thinking about the green haired guy and the one who somehow stretched his arm the other day when he knocked Charlie out of the tree. Thinking back on how they found Charlie, dangling by his neck, dead, it made Kate's body shiver. She looked down the beach where she could see the formerly-dead rockstar sitting, staring out over the ocean with dead eyes. "Yeah," Kate mumbled, trying to get refocused, "those two can probably handle- whatever it is they're doing."

Kate looked over towards the woods and saw Jack looking her way. She nodded towards him then looked back at Nami, "Well, I'll see you later."

The older woman started walking away while Nami leaned her chair back again. When the younger girl was back in her comfortable position she called out, "Whatever it is you and Jack are hiding..." Kate's eyes widened and she spun around looking at the back of Nami's chair. Nami smirked as she predicted Kate's reaction perfectly. The teen girl continued, "It won't stay secret for long. You're a good liar Kate, but I'm better." Nami looked out over the ocean, thinking of all the pirate crews she'd joined and robbed over the last ten years. They never expected anything from the innocent girl who was just good at making maps, and she conned them all.

Kate stared at the chair the teenage girl was lying on with sweat on her face. She'd seen what the rubber kid could do, and she ate the polar bear caught by the insanely strong guy with green hair. That teen with the long nose was a coward sure, but he was a marksman with his slingshot. This was the one person of the "pirate" crew who Kate wasn't that afraid of, though now she was wondering if she was wrong to make the assumption that she shouldn't be scared of the girl.

Kate didn't respond to Nami's statement, instead she turned and walked towards the woods fast. She and Jack did have a secret, but she had no idea this teenage girl knew about it. _Who else has noticed something's up?_

The doctor standing at the tree line tilted his head as Kate got to him. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Nami knows," Kate whispered.

Jack's eyes widened. He looked through the woods in the direction of where they hid the case of guns Sawyer found and the two of them opened up. So far they were the only two to know about it, "How?" He asked.

"She doesn't know the specifics," Kate whispered as she looked back out at the beach. "But she knows we're hiding something, and it sounds like she's going to try and find out what it is."

"Well then," the doctor mumbled, lifting up his left hand to the key he had tied around his neck by a piece of string. "Looks like we'll have to hide it a little better than we've been doing."

sc

"Oi," Luffy said, raising his voice as he stepped out of the woods. "Who are you guys?" The two people slamming pickaxes down into rocks in front of Luffy stopped and lifted their heads to see who just spoke to them.

One of these people was a short Asian man and the other a slightly taller, but much fatter white guy. "Uh, who are you?" The larger guy asked, staring at the kid wearing a straw hat who he'd never seen before.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm going to be King of the Pirates." He calmed his voice down and bowed his head a little, the front rim of his hat shadowing over his eyes. "Now, are you guys friends with Ethan?" He asked, his voice steady but sounding like it could change quickly.

"Ethan?" The Asian guy muttered. _Ben sent Ethan to spy on the front section, so this guy..._

 _We're screwed! How did this guy get here? Hold on, he's just a kid,_ the larger of the two balled his fists and a grin came to his face. "Yeah, we know Ethan," he began.

Luffy had stepped out of the woods on this small island right up to these two men, but some other people pushing around wheelbarrows or crushing rocks around them were starting to look their way as they didn't recognize the skinny guy in the Straw Hat either. Every single one of them dropped their jaws as Luffy punched forward and hit the fat man in the face. It wasn't the fact that this person hit their coworker that surprised them, but that his punch lifted the man three times his weight off the ground. The guy flew back ten feet before he hit the ground and tumbled backwards across the runway they were in the process of building.

Instantly, every person there threw down what they were doing. Luffy turned to the Asian guy who dropped into some sort of martial arts pose, but looked pretty scared after what just happened to his friend. "Where is Claire?" The teen pirate asked menacingly.

"Who's that?" The guy replied in confusion. Luffy rose back up his right fist but the guy jumped backwards and shouted, "Really, I don't know! We aren't involved with that assignment at all."

"Assignment?" Luffy asked, the confused one now. As he asked, he spun around hearing a loud blaring alarm coming from the other direction. There were people rushing around over in that direction and he started running that way. The shorter guy behind him dropped his jaw that he would leave just like that.

"There he is!" Someone shouted on Luffy's right as he ran. He turned that way to see a few people running towards him down a pathway.

The three running towards him had guns in their hands and Luffy grinned seeing some fighters for a change. "Gum Gum," he started, throwing his right hand far behind him so it stretched back across the runway.

The people running down the trail from the woods froze in their tracks and went wide eyed seeing the stretchy powers of this strange teen. "What the fu-" the Hispanic guy on the right started.

"Pistol!" Luffy finished shouting and his fist flew forward like a bullet. His arm crashed right through the three of his opponents and sent the two on the sides flying while knocking the man in front twenty feet backwards where he finally hit the ground and bounced back into someone else running their way.

"Edd!"

"Arlo!"

Luffy looked to either side of him and saw more people converging on him. "Give me Claire!" He yelled, tilting his head up to shout it.

"Take him down!" A short blonde woman on Luffy's right shouted.

"You heard Colleen," a broad shouldered guy running up alongside her, holding a strange device in his hand, shouted. He pointed the small metal gadget at Luffy and fired it, sending two sharp pricks at the skinny kid that lodged into his side. "Got 'im!" Danny Pickett yelled with a grin, seeing the volts from his tazer gun coarse through the enemy.

Luffy didn't move for a second, then turned to the guy and scratched his head. "Huh?"

Danny's eyes widened as did his wife's next to him and just about everyone around them. A few other people pulled out their stun guns and fired at him, but when they connected with their mark, Luffy just stood there with a blank expression on his face. "Where is Claire?" He asked again, though he was also wondering what these people were trying to do to him.

"It's not working!" One of the workers shouted, stumbling backwards and falling on his butt. Electricity had no effect on this rubberman.

Danny had sweat coming down his face, but he kept calm and shouted, "Then shoot him! Take him down!"

The people who didn't have guns on them left, either to get weapons that would work or just to run. Had they stayed, then just like everyone else they would have realized the futility of their actions. The ones who shot at Luffy after drawing their weapons just watched helplessly as the bullets pushed against his skin so that they could see them on the other side of his body, but then ricocheted back almost as fast making the shooters dive for cover.

The pirate with black hair under his straw hat marched towards the big guy who fell backwards when his bullets that hit Luffy bounced back towards his feet. Luffy reached down and grabbed the guy with a stubble beard by the collar. He hoisted Danny up to his feet so they were eye level, and pulled him in so their faces were inches apart.

Luffy's eyes looked dangerous as he growled, "Tell me, where can I find Claire?"

sc

"Ben!" A woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail charged into the boss's office without knocking. The short man behind the desk wearing glasses looked up at the woman who had a flushed look on her face. "Come quick," she paused as she could hear the alarms in here just as loud as the rest of the facility. "Don't you hear that?" She asked incredulously.

"Good morning Juliet," Ben greeted the woman who barged into his office. He was sitting in a chair behind his desk, but as he got up from it, Juliet could see he wasn't just sitting around doing nothing in here. He had a sawed-off shotgun in his left hand that he just finished loading.

"One of _them_ is on the island," Juliet began.

"No no," Ben stopped her. He wanted to correct her so he continued, "This isn't just one of them. This person was not on Oceanic 815." He had a walkie talkie on his waist, which he promptly picked up and spoke into, "Isabel, come in."

"Right here Ben," the sheriff of the Others replied from the other end.

Ben let go of the button on the radio and turned to Juliet. The short man with glasses on continued only to her, "This person has a strange ability. He can survive being shot." He walked over towards his door and took his glasses off. Looking at Juliet with a very serious expression he finished, "I want that power Juliet."

Ben lifted back up his walkie talkie to his mouth, "Are the pylons set up yet?"

"Almost," Isabel's voice came back over the radio. Juliet was utterly confused at what was going on so she opened her mouth to ask, but Ben held up a hand to stop her before she did. He walked past into the hall and with an annoyed sigh, Juliet turned and followed him.

"Did you wonder why I took you off of runway construction this morning?" Ben asked, glancing over his shoulder before looking back ahead and continuing through the building.

He opened up a door on his right and held it open for Juliet who looked at him with a confused expression. She walked into the stairwell and Ben closed the door behind them. "You knew," she started.

"Of course I knew," Ben replied, starting up the stairs with Juliet following a few paces behind him. "I knew before he even found the boat we left him on shore yesterday evening. Of course, I didn't expect him to take this long, but trying to understand this man would be impossible when we know so little about him."

Ben reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto the roof of the Hydra, another Dharma station they occupied for themselves. He walked over towards the edge and reached down into his pocket with his right hand, pulling out a pair of binoculars and looking out towards the half-built airstrip. Juliet walked up to him, as confused as ever, but as she looked off the roof she noticed a few clusters of people down below setting up pylons in front of the building. "What are they doing?" Juliet asked, her eyes widening as she recognized the pillars being placed in a wide circle around the station.

The short man looking off the roof twisted a knob on his radio. "Everyone fall back to the Hydra," Ben stated into his walkie talkie. A bunch of replies sounded over it and the gunshots in the distance slowed as their forces retreated. Ben changed the frequency back so that he was only speaking to Isabel again before continuing, "As soon as he gets close, turn on the barrier. Whatever you do, don't kill him. Jacob wants him alive."

Juliet turned to the man next to her as he lowered the walkie talkie again. "If she turns those things on while everyone's still running through..."

"It's not set to kill," Ben told her.

"It's put people in comas!" Juliet yelled at the man. He didn't seem phased as he looked off the roof at the people running back towards the building. "You are going to give them all aneurysms, and don't pretend like this is for Jacob," she growled at him. He spun to face her and saw the furious look on her face, "You just said, you want his power for yourself, so don't even pretend-"

"Juliet," Ben started, cutting her off. "Goodwin is dead."

Juliet froze in place, her jaw dropped as she stared at Ben. He stared her right back in the eyes, a satisfied little smirk on his face making her take a few steps back. He spoke smugly, "They learned he was a spy, and well, Ethan knew what had to be done."

It can't be...

 _ **"What if your wife finds out?"**_

 _ **"I've been sleeping on the couch for three months..."**_

 _ **"What if Ben finds out?"**_

 _ **"What, because he has a crush on you? Ha, everybody knows it. But really, what could Ben possibly do?"**_

"You-" Juliet started, but noise over the walkie talkie cut her off and Ben spun back to look over the edge of the building. Juliet stared at Ben's back as he leaned forward, looking off the roof for the guy who he could hear from up here.

"CLAIRE!" Luffy's voice echoed up in the sky. Ben smiled wider as he looked down and saw the teenager punch his fists forward over and over so fast he could barely see. All he did see were his men get thrown backwards by the attacks strong enough to knock them off the ground.

Juliet stepped closer to the man standing on the ledge while Isabel spoke to him through the walkie about how she was about to turn on the pylons. Her eyes focused on how close he was to the ledge, and she took another step while raising an arm. The blonde woman took one more hesitant step, then calmly walked up on Ben's left side and stared down at the circle of pylons set up around their work building on Hydra Island.

"On," Isabel spoke through the radio.

They didn't hear the system power up, but they watched as three, four more people ran towards their building. The teenager ran right up behind them and looked up towards the roof, making eye contact with the short guy looking down at him.

Luffy was about to shout something up at the guy four stories above him, but he snapped his head down hearing the muffled screams coming from in front of him. Over near the building doors a few people were gathered looking out towards him in fear. Between those people and Luffy though, were four of the ones who were closest to him, all falling to their knees and vibrating like mad.

"Oi, are you alright?" Luffy ran up to the young guy closest to him and spun him so he could look in the boy around his age in the eyes. The pirate stepped back as he saw the foam coming out of the teenager's mouth, and the blood dripping out of his ears and eyes.

"Carl!" A girl near the doorway screamed and reached out towards the bleeding kid. Someone else was standing there holding her back, though all the people looked a little disturbed by the sight.

"Stay back Alex," the man holding the teenage girl back snapped at her.

Luffy looked up at all the sad people standing there quietly and he shouted, "What's happening to him?" He took a step in their direction, making them tense up, but then a loud ringing went off in his ears and he groaned loudly. He tried lifting his arms up to grab his head, but his whole body started shaking and he was feeling weak. "What, did," he fell down to his left knee, his right leg bent as he tried to stay on his foot.

Behind him, the others who were following Luffy stood at the edge of the pylon line, not daring to move any closer in fear of getting fried. Dozens of people watched as the rubber teen fell to his other knee and clenched his teeth tight, fighting off the intense pain. His vision was getting fuzzy as he shook on his knees, but he still managed to lift his head up and look to the top of the building he was knelt in front of.

Ben stared right back down at the teenager, a wide smirk on his face as he watched how long the boy lasted compared to the others who stopped moving a few seconds ago. Then, his smile faltered as Luffy slammed his left fist on the ground and cracked the dirt beneath him. "Aarrrggg," Luffy pushed up stronger and stronger until he was up on his right foot again, and then back on his left as well.

 _We should have used the kill setting on the pylons for a guy like him,_ Ben thought, his mind rushing with what went wrong and a bead of sweat rolling down the left side of his face.

Down below, Luffy lowered his head back to face the doorway, and he took a step towards them. Every person watching flinched, and then watched as Luffy fell forward in almost slow motion. His eyes slowly shut and his face hit the floor hard, bouncing off once before coming to a stop.

A collective sigh of relief was let out by every one of the Others gathered... Well, except for the four unconscious ones around Luffy. That wasn't even to mention the moaning and knocked out Others all along the path leading to the Hydra Station, or the ones back on the runway. Still, the rest of them felt pretty relieved that the crazy person was out cold now.

Ben calmed himself down with a few deep breaths, but didn't return to having his cocky smirk on his face from before. He mentally reprimanded himself for that as he turned around and lifted the walkie to his mouth. "Isabel, good work. If you could get some people and bring him to Room 23, that would be great."

"You got it," she responded over the line.

"Oh and Isabel," he continued, "make sure he's strapped down with everything we have." Ben looked back over his shoulder at Juliet who was still staring off the building, thinking about the teen as well as what Ben told her right before they were distracted. He looked away and lifted the walkie again, "And make sure the sedatives are ten times as powerful than a normal dosage."

"Ten times seems a little much don't you think?" The woman answered him. "Even for him..."

"Ten times," Ben reiterated. He received a positive response on the other end and lowered his device. _Once I learn the secret to this power, Jacob will have to acknowledge me. I will finally meet the man behind the curtain._

* * *

 **A/N Ahh! Luffy's been captured! Nami knows about the gun case that Jack and Kate are hiding. Usopp's having weird visions and trying to open the hatch with Locke and Boone. And Zoro found the Dharma Staion the Staff where Claire is. Only half of the Straw Hats were featured in this chapter, but next chapter is much longer so I hope you enjoyed this!**


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